Background Checks App Overview

Background Checks

1. What it is

Background Checks lets you order, track, and adjudicate candidate background screenings from inside the recruiting pipeline. It connects to your existing Checkr, Sterling, or HireRight account through a system integration and keeps results, adjudication decisions, and FCRA adverse-action notices in one place.

• Enablement: Background Checks is available to every tenant with no license decision, and MangoApps adds no per-check charge — your provider bills each check. An admin must configure at least one provider integration before the app does anything.
• What it is not: Background Checks does not replace your provider account. Provider fees are billed by Checkr, Sterling, or HireRight directly. The app orders checks, receives results (by webhook from Checkr, and by polling from all three), and handles the FCRA notices — it does not run the screenings itself.

2. Standing it up

1. Go to Admin → Organization → Integrations and add a background-check integration for your provider (Checkr, Sterling, or HireRight). Enter the API key from your provider account (for Checkr, also the webhook secret). Use the Test Connection button to confirm the credentials work.
2. If you connect more than one provider, go to Job Board → Settings → Integrations and choose which one new checks are ordered through. Checks ordered from Job Board, and from an Onboarding Hub plan for a candidate, use that one (an Onboarding Hub order for another provider is only recorded on the plan); with none chosen, the oldest connection is used. Without Job Board, open the connection you want in Admin → Integrations and tick Order new background checks through this connection. The provider’s own settings page names the connection orders currently use.
3. Background Checks is visible at Apps → Background Checks and inside Job Board → Background Checks. Both surfaces show the same data. Recruiting staff (business admins, HR admins, and Background Checks or Job Board app admins) see every check. A job’s recruiter and whoever added the candidate see that candidate’s checks; a job’s hiring manager sees their status only.
4. To confirm setup, navigate to Job Board → Background Checks, click Request Background Check, and look for the candidate picker and package selector. If no provider is connected and no checks are on file yet, an administrator is taken to Background Checks → Settings with “Connect a background check provider to start using Background Checks.” and anyone else is told to ask an administrator to connect one. Once checks are on file, the list and every check stay open without a provider; a banner says new checks can’t be ordered, with a Connect a provider link for business administrators.

The app also surfaces inside Onboarding Hub plans. When a plan has a linked recruiting candidate, the Background Check tab shows existing results from the screening pipeline, and lets someone who can work that candidate (recruiting staff, the job’s recruiter, or whoever added the candidate) order a check, within your Who can order a background check? setting.

3. How it fits together

Check lifecycle — A background check moves through a fixed sequence of statuses. Understanding the sequence prevents the most common admin question (“where is this check stuck?”):

Example: Jane Doe, Senior Accountant, Comprehensive Background Check via Checkr.
Recruiter clicks Request Background Check → status is Not Started → Checkr invites Jane to authorize the check → Invited → Jane authorizes, Checkr creates the report and the screening runs → In Progress → Checkr returns a result → Clear (or Consider / Suspended) → if Clear and auto-adjudication is on, it is marked Approved and the process ends.

The eight statuses are:

• Not Started — check requested but not yet sent to the provider.
• Invited — the provider invited the candidate to authorize the check. With Checkr no report exists until the candidate does.
• In Progress — the candidate authorized and the screening is running.
• Clear — no adverse items found.
• Consider — adverse items found; requires adjudication.
• Suspended — the provider paused the screening (e.g. unable to verify).
• Canceled — a recruiting admin canceled the check before it completed. Cancel Check asks why (candidate withdrew, duplicate order, position closed, or other with a note), and the reason shows on the check’s timeline to recruiting staff.
• Error — the provider reported a failure. The recruiter is notified by email.

Adjudication — When a check returns Consider or Suspended, it lands in the Needs Review queue. Recruiting staff (a business admin, HR admin, or Background Checks or Job Board app admin) review the adverse items and pick one of four decisions:

• Approve (clear for hire)
• Reject (do not hire — triggers the FCRA adverse action flow)
• Conditional Approval
• Escalated — not decided yet; the check stays in Needs Review to be decided later

Only recruiting staff can adjudicate — the button does not appear for other roles. If the integration has Auto-adjudicate clear results turned on, checks that come back Clear skip the queue entirely and are marked Approved automatically.

FCRA adverse action — When an adjudication decision is Reject, the platform starts the two-step FCRA adverse action process:

1. A pre-adverse action notice is emailed to the candidate automatically (if they have an email on file). The notice includes the consumer report, the provider’s contact information, and the FCRA Summary of Rights.
2. A waiting period begins (5 business days by default, 1–30 business days, configurable per provider connection). If the candidate files a dispute, the final notice is held while the dispute is open. The dispute does not pause or restart the waiting period.
3. Once the waiting period has ended and no dispute is open, a daily job sends the final adverse action notice to the candidate.

If the candidate has no email address on file, the automated notices cannot be sent. The recruiter receives an in-app notification explaining which steps must be completed manually.

Every step — adjudication decisions, notice timestamps, dispute events, and provider status changes — is recorded in the recruiting audit log.

Provider sync — Checkr results arrive through webhooks; Sterling and HireRight results arrive by polling. A scheduled sync polls the provider every 6 hours for any checks still in Invited or In Progress status. Checks older than 90 days are excluded from the sync. You can also sync a single check manually from its detail page.

Access control — Recruiting staff see every check across the business and can adjudicate, cancel, and manage disputes. A job’s recruiter and whoever added the candidate see that candidate’s checks and the decision; a job’s hiring manager sees the status only. On the phone, an employee who applied internally sees their own check’s status — matched by the employee link on their candidate record, not by email — but the decision is hidden from them to preserve the FCRA process.

Relationship to Job Board and Onboarding Hub — Background Checks is sold both standalone and bundled with Job Board. The check surfaces appear when either app is enabled. Each check is tied to a recruiting candidate and optionally to a recruiting job. The Onboarding Hub’s Background Check tab shows the same pipeline data and can order checks through the same integration.

4. Running it

Requesting a check

1. Go to Job Board → Background Checks and click Request Background Check.
2. Search for a candidate in the picker. Only candidates with an email address appear.
3. Select a screening package. Four default packages are available:
   • Basic Criminal Check — SSN verification, national criminal database, sex offender registry.
   • Pro Criminal Check — everything in Basic plus county and federal criminal searches.
   • Comprehensive Background Check — everything in Pro plus employment, education, and professional reference verification.
   • Executive Background Check — full comprehensive check plus credit report, civil court searches, media searches, and extended employment history.
     The integration can define custom packages that override these defaults.
4. Click Request Background Check. The candidate receives an FCRA disclosure and authorization email (when auto-send is on). The check starts once they authorize.

A candidate can have only one active background check. If one already exists, the request page redirects back to the candidate profile. A canceled check, or an order that failed before it reached the provider, frees the candidate for a new one.

Reviewing results

1. Open a completed check from the list or click the email notification link.
2. The detail page shows the check status, adjudication status, provider, and timeline. If adverse items were found, they appear under Results with a count.
3. Sensitive fields (SSN, date of birth, driver’s license number) are stripped from the raw report data before display.

Adjudicating a check

1. Go to the Needs Review queue (linked from the dashboard stat card) or open a check with a Consider or Suspended status.
2. Choose a decision from the dropdown: Approve, Escalated, Reject, or Conditional Approval.
3. Enter adjudication notes (required for Reject and Escalated) and submit. The decision is recorded in the audit log. Approve, Reject and Conditional Approval are final; an Escalated check can be decided later.
4. If you reject, the FCRA adverse action process starts automatically (see §3).

Managing a dispute

When a candidate disputes their report during the FCRA waiting period:

1. Open the check detail page, scroll to the FCRA Adverse Action section.
2. Click Record Candidate Dispute and enter the dispute details. The final adverse action notice is held while the dispute is open.
3. After investigating, click Resolve Dispute & Resume. The waiting period was not paused or restarted: if it has already ended, the final notice goes out on the next daily run; otherwise it goes out when the period ends.

Syncing status manually

Open the check detail page and click Sync Status to ask the provider for the latest status now. For Checkr this also works for a check still on Invited: it syncs once the candidate has completed Checkr’s invitation.

5. Settings

Background check settings live on the provider integration, not on the app itself. Configure them at Admin → Organization → Integrations → (your background-check provider) → Edit.

Setting	Where	Default	What it changes
Auto-adjudicate clear results	Integration configuration	Off	When on, checks that return Clear are automatically marked Approved without entering the adjudication queue
Notify recruiter on completion	Integration configuration	On	Sends an email to the person who ordered the check, the job’s recruiter, and whoever added the candidate when a check completes (hiring managers are not emailed)
Notify on adverse items	Integration configuration	On	Sends an email when a check requires adjudication (Consider or Suspended result)
Notify candidate on progress	Integration configuration	Off	Sends candidates an email when the check moves to In Progress. Off by default because providers usually email candidates directly
Notify candidate on completion	Integration configuration	Off	Sends candidates an email when a check completes with a Clear result. Off by default for the same reason
Auto-send FCRA disclosure	Integration configuration	On	Sends the candidate the FCRA disclosure and authorization request automatically when a check is ordered. Off: MangoApps sends no disclosure email; your provider or your own process must
FCRA waiting period	Integration configuration	5 business days	The number of business days (1–30) between the pre-adverse action notice and the final adverse action notice
Enable AI Agent	Apps → Background Checks → Settings	On	Controls whether users can query background-check data through the Ask AI sidebar

6. More help

• Background Checks FAQ — specific setup and operating questions
• Job Board App Overview — the recruiting pipeline that feeds background checks
• Ask AI — the assistant answers questions about Background Checks from these articles.