FAQ Series: Why Do Some Screenings Take Longer Than Others?

Why do some screenings take longer than others to obtain the information?

Within the background screening industry, this is referred to as “turnaround” time. The goal at Nationsearch is to report your screening results the same day as requested. Our average criminal search turnaround time is 7 hours. However, there are a variety of issues that can slow down the process.

• Individual state and county reporting protocols and timeframes (some use snail mail)
• Common names slow the process
• The time it takes to match applicant identifiers against court records
• The need to send out on-the-ground researchers, rather than call and/or browse court records via the phone and internet
• The need to peruse multiple court records in order to identify or eliminate applicants
• Court holidays and closures
• Education and Employment information can delay a search because of the need to wait for a return phone call, fax or email. Schools can be on “breaks” which means no one is available to provide the information.
• Searches outside of the continental U.S. (i.e. U.S. territories, International searches, etc.)
• An individual search returning no criminal history can be completed much faster than a finding of criminal history. A criminal history record must be verified