Sterling Background Services are....

like a proctology exam performed by a pre-med.


long story short i asked them not to contact my current employer. I actually boomeranged there, but HR would likely flag the background check to my chain of command. it's been additional request for documents upon documents. they just asked for my first pay stub from my first job out of grad school in 2005.


they told me to contact the irs to obtain w-2s from 2010-2014.


i have flagged this to the current employer. my background is solid. the company did a reference check before making the offer, and i got stellar references. my education checks out. it has now been a week since they initiated this review.


in a past life i trained resources for a business center for remote tasks to be performed overnight. it is a massive flash back. these people do not really know what the fuck they are doing. they are calling individuals one time and claiming they cannot get in touch. i specified that email would be the best way because some of the individuals whose contact i had to share are 1)high-level employees and 2) may or may not be working in the corporate office during a fucking pandemic.


it's super frustrating.i've never seen or known this to take more than 1-2 days. i have held positions of fiduciary responsibility and handled documents with confidential information. Whatever fees they are charging it is way too much. this is a terrible experience.

๐Ÿ™ Mental Wellness
๐Ÿ‘ฅ Hiring
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9
poweredbycaffeine
WR Lieutenant
7
โ˜•๏ธ
Sir, I believe you are looking for www.yelp.com
BmajoR
Arsonist
5
Account Executive
Sir, this is a Wendy's. I need you to put on some pants, or leave.ย 
CoorsKing
WR Officer
7
Retired King of the Coors Knights
Sterling is miserable. I had to use them for my job I started a few weeks ago. It was worse than going to the DMV without an appointment.
funcoupons
WR Officer
6
๐Ÿ‘‘
What kind of job are you interviewing for where this level of background investigation is required?

Can confirm Sterling is terrible though - they used to contact me for references on occasion and their reps just use scripts for everything and don't fucking listen.
SiliconBBQ
Politicker
2
The Metal Rooster
Account Executive at a tech company with a big funding round in June. I've known the hiring manager for a few years. He tried to recruit me 3 years ago but timing didn't line up. Everything went smoothly until Sterling. I turned down another very competitive offer.ย 

Ironically they also sent me a link to use sterling along with the offer letter. first time i'd ever heard of these idiots
funcoupons
WR Officer
1
๐Ÿ‘‘
Jesus. Have you brought it up with the hiring manager? Sounds like they risk losing good candidates because of this stupid shit and need to consider giving them the boot.ย 

There are too many other good companies hiring without this dog and pony show. I wouldnโ€™t want to deal with it for a simple AE job.ย 
SiliconBBQ
Politicker
1
The Metal Rooster
yes. i have raised it to the hiring manager and the hr team.ย  hiring manager was like, i don't want you to worry that something is wrong. i said i know it's not i have stellar background and strong pedigree if these people are calling one time and not emailing during a pandemic, what are they being paid for?

seems like overkill + incompetence. been through 3 background checks in the prior 6 years and never had anything come up. I have a masters and undergrad from the same institution + solid referrals and letters of recommendation.

worked at my first gig 10 years left in good standing with positive recommendations

gig #2 for 5 years, promoted 4 times, left in good standing with positive reviews.ย 

gig #3 started nov. 2019 worked for a year - left in good standing and could be re-hiredย (just spoke with Director yesterday to flag this issue to him because i added him to Sterlings single dial list)

gig #4 I boomeranged back to gig 2 when they started a team in the local office that matched with business background. in good standing, although the GBU will not rehire once you've left twice.ย 

asking for a fucking paystub from 2005 is idiocy. who TF has that. I was 23. it was internet 1.0. telling me to call the irs to obtain w2s from 2005-2012. same same. idiocy. and completely out of touch with how the US operates. not gonna knock people in the developing world but obviously there's a massive disconnect between procedure and how the job is being carried out.ย 
funcoupons
WR Officer
1
๐Ÿ‘‘
Yeah that's a bunch of bullshit, dude. If I was asked to spend hours tracking down ancient paystubs I'd tell the hiring team they can either move forward without it or I'm pulling out.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
2
๐ŸฆŠ
I was coming here to say I would tell the hiring team the same thing. Y'all got 2 options here. And I would be 100% fine with walking away.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
4
๐ŸฆŠ
You can't be the only one with the negative experience/review. Why do companies use this firm?
SiliconBBQ
Politicker
1
The Metal Rooster
the web searches on them are rat holes of people being burned by sterling. i'm sure there are people who've lied on their background in there but not me.ย 

the most frustrating part is i know they have not sent a single email because i've reached out to the people i listed to see if they'd received contact. they're like shitty bdrs who are letting it ring once and hanging up.ย 
CaneWolf
Politicker
2
Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract
Why is the hiring company doing this?
SiliconBBQ
Politicker
0
The Metal Rooster
Good question. but flagged this shit to hr, and they said "that's really good feedback."ย 
jefe
Arsonist
2
๐Ÿ
No experience with them, but was vetted by BackCheck a few years ago and it was ridiculous.

Complaints from all my references as it was an extensive, rigid online process. One of my managers was flagged as not being a legitimate reference because he managed me before I was promoted to manage alongside him, and apparently he answered one answer in a way that DQ'd him.

They also verified my post grad and undergrad, which makes sense, but they also had to verify my high school? Pretty sure the university did that already.

Thankfully I provided this feedback to my new employer (at the time) and they severed that relationship and removed that step from their hiring process.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
1
Sr Sales Executive ๐Ÿฐ
Ah Sterling.ย  Incapable of finding some of my employers from the dotcom era (ever heard of Google or the Wayback Machine?ย  No?).ย  ย This last time, having a hard time getting ahold of my university for my diploma (hey, can you scan a copy and send it to us?).ย  ย I think my employers have figured out they're borderline incompetent, but feel as though it checks some kind of box.

And they wonder why I hoard things like old paystubs...
1

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