Sterling, A First Advantage CompanyReviews of sterlingcheck.com

I've had my background check done by Sterling twice (in the UK) and each time the experience has been negative. In both instances, Sterling were the main/sole reason of delays and issues with the recruitment process. It was a real shame as the recruitment teams did a great job, and only the outsourced part of the process went badly. In 2019, when starting a graduate job, the process took most of the summer and was not fully completed at my start date, so I had to sign a disclaimer. In 2021, my start date got pushed back. This was mainly because Sterling paused the process due to a "discrepancy". They have not told me what it was. However, when my prospective's employer's HR team received the supports (and they had to chase for them), it was apparently something they resolved so easily that they just sent it straight back to Sterling. I have, over my two background checks, had a lot of communication with Sterling, and these are the main issues I have identified: > They keep the candidate in the dark. Throughout the background check, they will not share with the candidate any details of the process or any issues they are coming across. A lot of these are things that could be easily resolved if giving the candidate space to explain, but they will not do that. They will simply say "we are still processing". In 2021, I kept trying to get progress updates with them multiple times, only to get these generic responses. Imagine the surprise when less than a week before my start date they shared six unresolved points with my prospective employer. I was then able to clarify these very quickly, but this should not have been left for the last minute. I do appreciate that there are limits to what can be shared with the candidate. However, this should not be used as an excuse to completely ignore them. > Rigid process / lack of critical thought. They have a process that I assume works OK if the candidate had a couple full time jobs in the past 5 years. However, say you are a fresh graduate with a varied history of volunteering, part-time jobs, gap year... you will be in trouble. If you are a foreigner or have worked outside of the UK, that seems to be almost a guaranteed delay to your start date. Sterling seems to be unable to adjust their procedure to anything out of the ordinary. I have had the pleasure of seeing the following: being asked for documents that didn't exist, being asked for evidence of pay for a voluntary position, Sterling delaying my background check due to being "unable to contact" a business that ceased trading three years ago... > The candidate does a lot of the work for them. They need to fill in a massive form with all contact details and provide a huge amount of documents. It is hard to see what Sterling actually do - other than send generic emails to the email addresses provided by the candidate, and request some standard criminal records etc. Once there is something unusual (business has re-branded, ceased trading, volunteering position...) they don't seem to know what to do as an alternative and will just stall the process. > Staff will not take ownership. When you try and get something resolved, nobody will actually try to help you. I think this might be a problem of the admin staff being underpaid, untrained, unclear guidelines...? This links back to the inability of Sterling to deal with anything even slightly out of the ordinary. However, this was best demonstrated when I was, for two weeks, trying to speak to someone about my concerns. When Sterling did eventually email me, they accidentally left in the conversation trail, where I could see numerous employees just throwing my case in each other's directions, nobody seemed to know who was responsible - or want to take responsibility. What is more, their resolution was: "please speak to your employer about your concerns". > They are very slow. I think this is a result of what I identified above. This was best demonstrated when I was going through the process in 2021. There I found that a month after me submitting my information, they had not yet been in touch with my latest employer. This was 4 days before my original start date (which was, of course, postponed)! Overall, they don't seem to be in any rush to complete the background checks efficiently, or on time. In both my background check I had to have the employer step in to speed the process up by taking some of Sterling's tasks due to Sterling being slow. I see my experience is largely in line with what other negative reviews show. Conversely, it is interesting to compare those to the non-descript one-sentence positive reviews from accounts with only one review posted.

Don't understand Australian ID check requirements for police check. Don't use up to date forms for police checks resulting in delays. Can't communicate clearly. FAQs are vague and unhelpful. Ask for confidential information which they have no legal right to ask for in Australia. Seem to have no local staff in Australia. Front line staff located in f*@! knows which country.

I would give zero stars if possible. terrible experience, this is my 3rd or 4th time going through a background check process due to change of employment. I have never once had any issues with other companies verifying information for previous background checks, but Sterling wanted to to provide yearly W2's AND paystubs for the previous 5 years. Insane. Highly recommend using literally any other company if given the choice, as Sterling clearly does not know how to verify simple information other companies have no issues with. Be prepared to spend countless hours tracking down information for absolutely no reason because this company is completely incompetent.

I had to get my background check redone with my company because I have been employed for five years. It took more than a month to get my background check through simply because Sterling refused to help in anyway to figure out what was going on. I went to the MVD and had them send over my report via the fax that they provided. They refused to take it. They were saying that it wasn’t pulling up in their system. After about 2 1/2 weeks of dealing with them offering absolutely no solutions or any idea of what was wrong and after explaining to them multiple times that I had my identity stolen and I had changed my drivers license number , I figured it out. Not them. They said they could do nothing and I needed to reach out to DMV. Although, I already had and the DMV told them it pulled up with zero problems. (They we’re literally on the phone while I spoke to the DMV). I asked them to verify my drivers license number. At first they refused. I explain to them that I was going to pull out my ID and read him the number and he finally buckled and said OK then verified that he had the wrong drivers license number. I asked him why he had not verify this information. He proceeded to talk over may be extremely rude and still not get anything done for more than a week.

Absolutely useless, they keep asking for the same information and documents over and over and then give some nonsense excuse like they cant open a .jpg file. In this day and age every computer can open that file, absolute muppets working here and no way to speak to management.

Why would you need to go to the post office twice to confirm the same thing and pay again and again? For example when you apply for DBS once, you don't need to apply again for 3 months (if I don't remember right). Sorry for the bad feedback, but I will not pay for your service ever again.

Sterling was horrible ! I needed my GED and College transcripts. My new company that I am hired with Bon Secour Mercy Health Fairfield Ohio required me to provide these (2) documents. So the Onboard specialist-Paige Ranson said don’t worry she can have Sterling get the necessary paperwork. Well that was not so easy! I completed you application and gave the county-Butler in Ohio and Cincinnati State College and told Sterling approximately around 1990 give or take! Well you still kept sending me emails wanting specific dates . You weren’t listened and didn’t care ! I didn’t remember dates and lost everything. You were trusted to find my stuff. Why are you saying you are a background company and can locate information on people but you make the candidate do ALL the work! I did pass my experience onto my company so that they know how difficult you are . Hopefully I will never have to be involved with you again!

Omg they suck