The way we verify qualifications, behaviours, and histories is undergoing a profound shift. We’re facing new questions about how we establish trust in a digital world.
With advancements in AI, digital credentials, and compliance challenges businesses face while entering new markets and forming a remote team outside the country, leading organizations are rethinking their approach to background screening. Businesses are turning to more automated, scalable solutions that ensure faster and more accurate assessments of candidates.
But beyond hiring, these trends are shaping how businesses manage risks, streamline processes, and foster a safer, more transparent digital ecosystem.
At Certn, we’re not just helping employers find the right talent, we’re paving the way for a future where trust is built on secure, real-time verification across all sectors.
This article explores the key trends shaping the future of digital trust. I also explore implications for the background screening industry, from AI adoption and verifiable credentials to the interoperability challenges posed by merges and acquisitions.
Here are the 2025 trends in background screening I dive into:
- A New Era of Hiring
- From AI Adoption to Adaptation
- Data Integration and Interoperability
- The Rising Cost of Vendor Fees
- Workforce Monitoring: A New Opportunity
- Verifiable Credentials
A New Era of Hiring
The job market is slowing in North America. The hire rate fell to 3.3% in August, the slowest pace since October 2013. According to the latest September Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, it’s sitting at 3.5%. Layoffs are holding at a low rate: 1.2% in September — lower than at any point before the pandemic. Statistics Canada reported that the Canadian labour market grew by just 15,000 jobs (+0.1%) in October, a minor gain that was largely offset by population growth, leading to a 0.1 percentage point decline in the employment rate to 60.6%. The unemployment rate held steady at 6.5%, continuing to reflect a labour market facing mounting pressures as population growth continues to outpace job creation.
These examples signal background check vendors must adapt to a changing environment by diversifying their client base and tailoring their offerings.
Historically, background checkers have primarily worked with HR departments and talent acquisition teams. This was Certn’s strategy from the start. However, as hiring practices change and growth slows in sectors such as retail trade, accommodation and food services and real estate, vendors will need to expand their reach to other departments and decision makers who play a role in risk management.
The reckoning for DEI in the New York Times investigative piece concluded that organizations are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on employee engagement programs, yet their scores on engagement surveys remain abysmally low. This tracks with the Lattice 2025 State of People Strategy Report, where only 15% of 1,400 HR leaders across over 60 countries said DEIB programs are a priority. The current state of DEI, coupled with HR burnout and new, broader mandates for CHROs including business strategy, digital transformation, and organizational culture shaping (McKinsey & Company, 2023, The HR Observer, 2022), might also mean that HR teams wield less power within their organizations and also justify why background screening vendors looking to sign new business should look elsewhere.
Compliance and Risk Management Teams
With increased caution in hiring, businesses may rely more heavily on compliance and risk management teams to make sure business processes don’t expose the company to unnecessary liability. This opens up opportunities for screening companies to pivot to offer more in-depth risk assessments, fraud detection, and real-time monitoring of employees.
Talent Strategy and Workforce Planning Teams
As companies take a more strategic approach to workforce planning, background check vendors will need to work with teams responsible for long-term talent management to ensure that background screening processes align with broader organizational goals.
Offering services like continuous background checks and real-time monitoring of potential employees’ records can help companies mitigate risk while keeping a finger on the pulse of talent.
Diversifying Offerings to Align with Strategic Hiring Goals
With fewer hires but a greater emphasis on selecting the right talent, background check vendors will need to provide services that go beyond the basics. Instead of just criminal records or employment verification, the next frontier could be services that align more with company culture, job-specific competencies, and holistic risk management.
This could include:
- Skills Testing and Certifications: As companies become more selective, they’ll look for ways to verify that candidates have the skills they claim to have. Background check vendors that can provide access to verified credentials could stand out as valuable partners in the hiring process. Though, there’s also a role for skills-based hiring tools. According to TestGorilla The State of Skills-Based Hiring 2023 a survey of 1,500 employers and 1,500 candidates, 89% of employers improved employee retention when hiring for skills and 74% of employers reduced cost-to-hire when using skills-based hiring.
- Predictive Analytics and Talent Mapping: Offering predictive insights into a candidate’s long-term potential, based on data trends and AI-driven analysis, could provide background check vendors with an opportunity to move into the realm of talent strategy. Predictive analytics could help hiring managers anticipate a candidate’s future performance or risk, enabling more data-driven decisions in a time of fewer hires, though there are a lot of legal barriers for background check vendors to play in this sandbox, so these products might come from elsewhere, if at all.
- Continuous Monitoring: However, an opportunity that background check vendors can seize with relative ease is continuous monitoring. The evolving nature of the workforce, especially in remote and hybrid work environments, means that employers are paying more attention to the ongoing behaviour of their employees. Providing continuous background checks, financial monitoring, or adverse media monitoring will be key for companies who need to ensure they have the most up-to-date information about their workforce.
Those who can successfully navigate these shifts and become trusted partners across departments, not just HR, will be well-positioned to thrive in 2025 and beyond.
From AI Adoption to Adaptation
Technological transformation is the business reality. The accelerated adoption of AI, and resulting integration into everyday work processes, has changed, and will continue to change how jobs are performed. According to The World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs Report 2023, 23% of global jobs will change in the next five years due to industry transformation, including AI.
Although 79% of leaders agree that AI adoption is critical to remain competitive, in the Microsoft and LinkedIn 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report, 60% admit their company lacks a vision and plan to implement it. Not to mention, regulatory bodies are struggling to keep up with the realities of AI on the ground and company policies are similarly lagging behind. As a result, companies and HR teams are pulled in multiple directions as it manages the organizational need for cost efficiency with workforce anxiety.
AI in Background Screening
It might surprise you to know that slow adoption of AI is also prevalent in background screening. I mean, uptake is even slow on digital processes and fairly simple automation.
Done manually, background checks are a slow, tedious process involving phone calls, physical documents, and perhaps unbelievably, faxes. I shouldn’t even bother telling you this method is time-consuming, prone to human error, and often results in incomplete information.
The digital transformation led by Certn in 2016 brought in automated systems and online databases, speeding up the process and increasing accuracy. This shift set the stage for the advanced technologies we see today.
By leveraging AI, systems can quickly assess a candidate’s qualifications, criminal history, and online presence, allowing businesses to move faster than traditional, manual methods. AI can process vast amounts of data in real-time, providing employers with more comprehensive insights into a candidate’s background in a fraction of the time it would take a human to manually sift through the same information. This makes it an attractive solution for employers looking to streamline their hiring processes and reduce the administrative burden associated with background check reports, so we’re bound to see more talk of AI in screening in 2025.
The adoption of AI in background screening has been slow due to concerns over the risks associated with its use. AI and global data access present compliance issues for background check and consumer reporting agencies because of varying international data privacy laws and regulations that impose strict requirements on how personal information is collected, stored, and shared. Data domiciling adds complexity to compliance as agencies must navigate cross-border data transfers while maintaining legal adherence.
Another significant concern is the potential for bias and algorithmic discrimination. We know that if AI systems aren’t properly trained or monitored, they can unintentionally reinforce existing biases based on factors such as gender, race, or socio-economic background. This can result in unfair hiring practices that violate anti-discrimination laws, something particularly concerning in an industry focused on risk management. To mitigate this risk, it’s essential that AI systems are developed and tested with fairness and transparency in mind, ensuring that they are free from biases that could impact candidates’ chances.
While automation and AI can speed up routine tasks and provide data-driven insights, there are subjective elements in the screening process that still require human judgment. For example, we employ human quality assurance in our social media screening to assign a confidence rating to findings.
Data Integration and Interoperability
Several industries will face significant interoperability challenges as they work to integrate diverse systems, platforms, and technologies. Healthcare, for instance, continues to struggle with fragmented electronic health records and patient data silos, while financial institutions grapple with integrating traditional banking systems with emerging fintech solutions. Similarly, supply chain management faces difficulties in ensuring smooth data flow across various partners and systems, while retail must ensure that their e-commerce platforms, point of sale systems, and customer relationship management systems can seamlessly exchange data in real time to provide a smooth and personalized shopping experience.
The significant mergers and acquisitions in the background screening industry in 2024, First Advantage’s acquisition of Sterling and HireRight’s transition to private ownership, have major implications for interoperability as a key trend in background screening.
First, the consolidation of companies in the sector will likely drive the need for greater interoperability. As larger screening companies expand their global reach and product offerings, integrating diverse systems and platforms becomes essential. This is particularly true when multiple technologies, databases, and regulatory requirements need to be consolidated and standardized across different markets.
Mergers often aim to enhance technological solutions, which means that the ability to seamlessly exchange data between various background screening tools, client platforms (such as HR software), and other verification systems will be a key focus. Screening companies will need to prioritize creating systems that are compatible and able to communicate efficiently across various networks to provide a seamless experience for their clients, especially in a more digital-first, globalized world.
Additionally, as private equity firms like General Atlantic and Stone Point Capital continue to invest in background screening companies, they’ll likely push for more integrated systems and solutions that can scale with increased demand for background checks across various industries. This drive toward scale and efficiency will make interoperability a priority, as businesses seek to simplify their processes, reduce costs, and improve data accuracy.
Achieving interoperability will enable these companies to consolidate the vast amounts of information they collect across multiple jurisdictions, technologies, and client needs, thus improving the overall security and speed of the background screening process.
Fortunately, we’ve already done this at Certn through our single global platform, CertnCentric. If you’re ready to learn more about all the ways interoperable screening tools and platform integrations can enhance the candidate experience and help you improve onboarding, contact us for more details.
The Rising Cost of Vendor Fees
The cost of third-party vendor fees is having a notable impact and warrants being included among the 2025 trends in the background screening industry, especially as more reseller businesses turn to outsourcing these services to ensure accuracy and compliance.
These fees, often high due to the complexity of data collection, verification, and legal compliance, are adding to the overall cost of hiring for companies that rely heavily on background checks. As a result, many clients are re-evaluating their approach to background screening to manage these costs more effectively.
Clients, particularly larger organizations, are increasingly looking for ways to reduce expenses related to background screening, which has led some to either negotiate better pricing with their vendors or explore alternatives like in-house screening technologies.
This has prompted some companies to seek out more cost-efficient solutions that can streamline the background check process, either by using automated systems or by opting for vendors that leverage AI to reduce human involvement and minimize labour costs. Additionally, as companies face pressure to speed up hiring processes, they’re seeking vendors that can offer faster turnaround times without increasing costs, pushing background screening vendors to invest in technologies that improve operational efficiency.
This might also explain some of the activity we’ll see around AI in 2025 that I spoke about earlier, but it’s also pushing background screening vendors to consider new strategies to remain competitive in the market.
Yes, they’re exploring ways to reduce the cost of providing services while still maintaining high standards for accuracy and compliance. At the same time, vendors are exploring bundled service offerings that can provide clients with more comprehensive and cost-effective screening packages. In some cases, vendors are also expanding their technological capabilities, such as offering integrated solutions that make it easier for clients to access, manage, and review background screening data, helping them further reduce administrative costs. This is part of our strategy at Certn.
Finally, to reiterate another point from above, I think we’ll see companies developing services that align more with company culture, job-specific competencies, and holistic risk management, in addition to workforce monitoring tools that claim to break down recidivism and apply predictive scores.
Workforce Monitoring: A New Opportunity
Workforce monitoring, also known as rescreening or post-hire screening, involves conducting additional background checks on existing employees who’ve already undergone an initial screening. This ongoing process helps employers ensure that employees continue to meet the required qualifications and do not present any new risks over time.
Keeping employees safe is one of the most important responsibilities of an organization.
Not only is it a moral obligation, but there’s also a legal precedent — your duty of care — for protecting workers. Workplace monitoring has gained greater attention in recent years, driven by an increasing emphasis on workplace safety and news coverage of avoidable workplace scandals. Interestingly, AlertMedia’s 2023 State of Employee Safety Report finds that 81% of workers say their physical safety is extremely important to them, but only 58% think their physical safety is extremely important to their employer.
While some checks, such as reference checks, education verification, and employment history, may not reveal new information, others, such as criminal record checks, could uncover relevant new convictions that could affect an employee’s role. This makes rescreening a critical tool in maintaining a culture of trust and safety.
This isn’t a totally new concept, as industries such as transportation and healthcare, which are highly regulated, require the renewal of specialized checks like driver abstract searches or credential verifications to ensure ongoing compliance and safety. Though, it could be revolutionary to broaden their use in 2025 and beyond.
(Both Canada and the US have specific legal barriers that must be considered when re-running background checks on current employees. In both countries, employers must obtain consent, ensure that the checks are job-related, and avoid discrimination based on criminal history or other personal information. Employers should also be mindful of privacy laws, spent convictions legislation, and any local or state-specific regulations that govern the use of background checks.)
Verifiable Credentials: The End of the Résumé
Verifiable credentials, digital certificates and blockchain-based records, provide a more secure and transparent way to authenticate educational degrees, certifications, and work experience, making the background check process faster and more accurate. In hiring environments, they’ll likely replace the traditional résumé.
As we announced at the end of 2023, Certn is pioneering the use of verifiable credentials (VCs) to enhance trust, security, and efficiency across industries. These digital credentials streamline the verification process, reducing administrative burdens and mitigating risks associated with fraud.
The future of trust lies in the seamless, real-time validation of credentials, ensuring that all stakeholders can confidently engage in digital transactions, which is why we’re building our own verifiable credentials network.
For candidates, they provide greater control over their data, allowing them to manage and share their credentials securely and efficiently. Employers and service providers benefit from reduced verification time, enhanced security, and tamper-proof credentials. Our network has applications in hiring, but also in property management.
Industry Leading Background Screening with Certn
Staying on top of background screening trends is crucial to attract and retain top talent. A trusted background screening partner, such as Certn, can provide you with the tools and support that you need to keep up with the industry and a challenging and unpredictable job market.
The experience matters too.
We hear it all the time: clients switch to Certn because their background check process is very manual and doesn’t give them a lot of options. Or, they had to stop using their other vendor because reports coming back were missing known convictions. How can they screw up and miss something that is a public record?
With Certn, just input the candidate’s email address and our online screening platform takes care of the rest. If you prefer, you can integrate with your ATS – our seamless integration with popular ATS and HRIS software means a convenient workflow that works where you do.
Customer service is responsive if you or your candidates need any help along the way. Reach out at any time. They’ll deal with delays in jurisdictions where information has to be pulled manually, but that’s a pretty rare occurrence for most clients.
See for yourself why 20,000 teams choose Certn.
Book a demo to learn more about setting up your background screening program with Certn.
