We’re shaking things up on ActiveCare by taking you behind the scenes at Active Screening. We think it’s only fair to offer you this level of transparency since it’s a corporate culture virtue we often promote on this very blog!
We’re very proud of our leadership team. They have helped boost Active Screening into one of the most reliable and sought-after screening agencies in the industry. In 2014 alone, they were instrumental in helping Active Screening earn national accreditation through the National Association of Professional Background Screeners, and established a data privacy policy which complies with the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework and U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor Framework administered by the United States Department of Commerce.
Basically, this means that we’re wicked good at what we do, and we take your data protection super seriously. Like trans-continental seriously.
With that, we’re pleased to introduce you to Benton Mobley, Director of Compliance at Active Screening.
ICYMI, here’s Benton’s profile on our About Us page.
“Benton Mobley has been with Active Screening since 2005 and has been instrumental to the company in developing and maintaining full service, in-house compliance, verifications and criminal research departments. Mr. Mobley has over 15 years of experience in the employment screening industry. As an FCRA certified expert Mr. Mobley continually strives to exceed industry standards and assist Active Screening customers in making the best hiring decisions.”
We did a little Q & A with Benton and hope you enjoy learning more about his important role at Active Screening.
Q: How did you get started in the background screening industry?
Benton: I started working in this industry prior to 9/11 at a company called Androcles. A friend got me an interview and I was hired to process criminal research and results from the court runners. It was the bottom rung in the company. The company was bought and merged with a few other companies shortly after I started working for Androcles. During the next several years I went on to work in several other departments and areas in the operations side of the screening industry. I especially focused on software/product testing and compliance. I’ve always excelled at whatever project or obstacle that has been placed in front of me.
Q: What does a Director of Compliance do? What are your roles and responsibilities? How has this changed since you came to Active Screening?
Benton: My roles and responsibilities have changed a lot since 2005. Compliance was originally all wrapped up in general day to day functions within operations, but so was criminal research, customer service, verifications etc. As the company grew so did the need to have specified departments with roles and responsibilities. I started and grew each of our departments in operations with compliance being the last one.
As our company matured, so did our industry, especially in the areas of tightening down the process with state and federal laws. We’ve also seen A LOT more litigation and settlements involving CRAs within the last few years. So those industry dynamics have really brought compliance to the top as far as the importance and need to have a compliance department.
The compliance department is responsible for looking out for the company’s best interest. That can include, but is not limited to, making sure all company employees and subcontractors are following state and federal laws, credentialing of new accounts, credentialing accounts who want access to credit bureau information, oversight for adverse action, oversight for adjudication and scoring, providing the company with frequent updates on state laws that are being changed or enacted that directly affect our business model.
I also work with Product Development A LOT, since my insight is needed to see if the technology will comply with SOP, laws, and how our clients operate. We also handle any disputes or rechecks regarding the accuracy of criminal results on our consumer reports. We also provide numerous self-help type of documents out at our company websites.
Q: What is the most interesting aspect of your job? Most difficult? Most exciting?
Benton: Most interesting is working on new products, software and items that will make the overall process easier for us and the clients. Inventing Solutions.
Most difficult is keeping the clients informed of all the little nuanced things that materialize during the course of running a consumer report. Client education.
Most exciting is working for and keeping our company one of the best companies in the industry that provides a great service to organizations.
Q: How difficult was it to become FCRA certified? It seems like a complicated and ever-changing topic.
The NAPBS offers two FCRA certifications. One is the Basic and the other is the Advanced. Both are fairly straightforward as far as the information, but you do have to be thorough with your material if you want to pass and obtain the certifications. The Advanced is also a little more stressful because it is only available twice a year at both national conferences offered by the NAPBS. The Advance certification also has to be renewed every two years.
The NAPBS also offers organizations the ability to be Accredited. This is a very long and detailed process to undergo for a CRA. It takes several months to complete and requires several hundred pages of SOP and documentation along with hundreds and hundreds of employee hours to complete. Only 10% of Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRA) in the US have been able to obtain Accreditation. We are one of that 10%. Accreditation has 62 clauses that have to be met and covers all aspects of your CRA operations, including but not limited to, IT security and protocol, the handling and reporting of criminal records, compliance, verifications, client services, and general HR stuff.
Q: What is the most common question you get from Active Screening clients and what is your response?
Benton: Compliance doesn’t get a lot of direct questions from clients. Most of those questions are either handled by client services, or all of the documents and self-help materials that compliance has placed on the websites has done the trick. When we speak to clients it’s usually following up on the results of a recheck or dispute, and during those times we may have to educate the client a bit more on the ordering process in regards to the services being ordered.
Q: More organizations are taking volunteer screening seriously and are turning to Active Screening in increasing numbers to vet their volunteers. What do you think is the most important thing for volunteer-based organizations to know about volunteer screening and the platforms you’ve helped develop to help them implement this?
Benton: The background check or consumer report is just one facet of a HR person’s responsibilities. I think that clients under-utilize several nifty little features we have built into the systems to make their jobs easier. Especially on the Active Screening platform. A lot of these features directly relate to how they manage their process and provides them with easy solutions to their obligations as required by federal law.
To learn more about the Active Screening platform, known as ACTivate, click here. It’s the most versatile, comprehensive solution to safely collect and run background checks for your employees and volunteers.
Watch this video for more information!