You’ve got candidates waiting to start. Your customers are asking when roles will be filled. And somewhere in between is a background check dragging its feet.
Most providers make you choose. Speed comes at the cost of accuracy, and vice versa. It’s a tradeoff baked into how legacy providers were built.
But choosing between speed and accuracy is like asking if you’d rather have brakes or a steering wheel. You need both. And both should be standard. If your provider’s making you pick, they’re doing it wrong.
The only way to get both is with modern tech built to deliver exactly that.
So let’s talk about what’s at stake when you give up accuracy or speed, and how to get both without overpaying.
Why accuracy is necessary
Background checks exist for one reason: to protect your business and the people you serve and employ.
They’re supposed to reduce risk. Keep you compliant. Give you confidence that the people you’re putting to work aren’t going to cause harm to your brand, your customers, or your bottom line.
But when background checks aren’t accurate, they can actually create new—and bigger—risks. This isn’t an area where you can afford to be close enough. Even a small miss can turn into a big problem. Mistakes might not happen often, and they might not happen right away. But when they do, they could cost you more than you can put on paper.
Accuracy isn’t optional. If you’re trusting a provider to screen people on your behalf, they have a responsibility to get it right.
Why so many providers get accuracy wrong
Screening isn’t just about pulling a record. It’s about knowing where to look—and how to confirm that what you found actually belongs to the right person.
But many providers cut corners. Here are a few ways it happens:
- They skip alias searches. People don’t always use the same last name everywhere. Someone might legally be “Elizabeth Johnson” but have records under a maiden name like “Elizabeth Smith.” Or they might have hyphenated, changed, or shortened their last name. If your provider doesn’t search for all known aliases (or doesn’t do it without charging extra), they can miss critical records.
- They rely on name and date of birth alone when it’s not enough. If your candidate is named Matthew Smith, you need more than a name and date of birth to be confident a record truly belongs to him. A good provider will look for other identifiers (like middle name, address, or other details) to be sure it’s the right person. But some don’t.
- They treat secondary databases as final answers. Most providers start their research using secondary databases. But a responsible provider uses them as a starting point, then goes to the primary source (like a county court) to confirm the details. The problem is when a provider skips that verification and trusts the database blindly.
- They skip pre-hire fraud detection. Some providers don’t have tools that can catch clear signs of fraud—like a Social Security number issued before the candidate’s birth year, or mismatched identifiers that don’t add up.
We could list hundreds of examples of how providers cut corners with accuracy. But you don’t need to be a screening expert. That’s our job. What matters is this: cutting corners on accuracy happens far more than you’d think. And legacy providers are still doing it every day.
Why speed is necessary
You don’t need us to explain why speed matters. You live it.
Slow background checks slow everything else down. Candidates are stuck waiting. Customers get frustrated. Start dates slip. Revenue walks out the door.
That’s a business problem. But it’s also a people problem.
Speed builds trust. Customers learn they can count on you. That’s what keeps them coming back.
And for the candidates themselves? They’re ready to work. A delayed background check keeps real people from earning income. That frustration adds up fast.
So yes, speed matters. Not just for operations, but for growth.
why so many providers get speed wrong
Legacy background screening providers were never designed as technology platforms.
They were built around people and process—manual, slow-moving systems that made sense in a paper-first world. So, they’re not able to leverage the advantages that tech-first companies can in 2025.
That’s why even basic steps take longer than they should. It’s not just inefficiency, it’s the system. Here are a few examples of how some providers slow things down:
- Manual actions hiding behind the scenes. At some providers, a human has to manually kick off a background check when an order comes in. That’s just one example—but it shows how manual work is hiding behind the scenes, slowing everything down.
- Slow to adopt better data sources. Tech-first companies can quickly test, replace, or add data partners to ensure the fastest, most accurate results. But legacy providers are stuck. Switching partners means overhauling systems—so they just don’t do it.
- No ability to customize what you see. Some providers force you to manually review every detail of a background check report—even if most of it doesn’t matter to you. Others let you set rules for what’s flagged, but they charge extra for that control. With the right provider, this kind of customization should be standard. You decide what matters, and you don’t pay extra for it.
- They don’t evolve. For a tech-first company, making an improvement is a software update. For a legacy provider, it’s a project that takes months. So even when they know they could be faster, they’re stuck.
Modern platforms like Yardstik were built differently. When you’ve got the right infrastructure, you can pull data fast, verify it fast, and still get it right.
But if your system wasn’t built for that, you’re stuck. And so are your customers.
How we deliver both speed and accuracy
Most providers make you pick one. We don’t. Here’s how we’ve built a system that gets the right info fast.
- We use technology to go fast where others can’t. We’ve built automation into every part of the process that should be automated. That means reports get cleared fast. No bottlenecks.
- We built for accuracy where it counts. When a report needs deeper review, our systems are built to get it right. We go straight to the source to verify records—and make sure those records actually belong to your candidate.
- We take work off your plate. Some providers hand you a confusing report and expect you to figure it out. We’ve built tech that gives you control of what you want to see so your team saves time. That’s how IMKO’s team saves 50+ hours per year.
- We don’t make you pay extra to avoid problems. We’ve built technology that does the hard stuff as part of the core product. No upsell required.
This is what it looks like when a platform is built to do background screening right. Speed where it matters. Accuracy where it counts. And no shortcuts in between.
Better checks don’t mean bigger bills
At this point, it’s fair to ask: If you’re getting faster, more accurate checks… doesn’t that mean you’re paying more?
That’s the assumption most people make. But it’s based on the way traditional providers work—either charge more or cut corners to keep costs down.
The difference we leverage is technology.
When the tech is built right from the ground up, speed and accuracy aren’t premium features—they’re just how the system works.
And in a lot of cases, it actually costs less. With features like Sequential Screening, our customers avoid unnecessary checks and save money on every report.
That’s the power of doing background screening the right way: faster, more accurate, and more cost-effective—all at once.If you’re tired of paying more to settle for less, let’s talk.