In This Episode:
Tracy Shatus, CEO of GlobalBackgroundScreening.com (GBS), joins us for an informative interview on background screening technology – a critical business tool in today’s often murky online world. We discuss how she came to found the company, what gaps in the market GBS addressed, and what sets them apart in a competitive market.
We also discuss the industries they serve, the power and flexibility of their globally compliant platform, and how it makes selecting screening targets (U.S./International employee, business), service levels and specific features as easy as ordering a product on Amazon!
Tracy then shares how CuriousCheck helped accelerate GBS’s dramatic growth, leveraging an assortment of marketing strategies and techniques – or “hacks” – to increase user volume from hundreds to multiple thousands per month in under just one year.
Key Time Stamps:
1:09: How GBS got started
2:20: The gaps GBS filled in the industry
3:55: How the platform works and why it’s so easy to use compared to others.
4:44: What is a Social Media Background Check, and how does it work?
6:53: Other industries that GBS specializes in.
7:23: Who is using GBS?
8:43: How the partnership with CuriousCheck came about, and how their support drove exponential business growth.
Adventures in Growth Hacking… strategies and techniques to put you on the fast track to business growth.
Featuring Tracy Shatus, CEO of Global Background Screening
Intro
Welcome to Profiles in Growth Hacking, strategies and techniques to put you on the fast track to business growth. Today, we’re speaking with Tracy Shatus, CEO of Global Background Screening, an HR Consulting firm, offering a full-suite of background screening and drug testing services. GBS helps their clients integrate with their ATS – applicant tracking system – to efficiently process all of their applicants for onboarding as well as performing the background screening. Tracy joins us today from Atlanta. Hi Tracy.
Charles: How did Global Background Screening come about?
Tracy: Well Charles – My dad owned a private investigation business when I was growing up and that’s where I got my start. He was doing background checks on people and businesses before it was even an industry and once he retired in 2004 – I started my first background screening company. Now 25 years later, we have Global Background Screening and with the connections and partnerships that I have made throughout the years, we can confidently say that we can do a background check anywhere in the world (except Antarctica!)
Tom: What gap in the industry does GBS fill?
Tracy: We’ve simplified the whole screening process by making it more like Amazon. Get in, checkout, and we handle the rest. You can order employment checks, checks on your renters, and even schedule fingerprinting all in seconds.
Charles: How does your platform work?
Tracy: We’re one of the first companies to offer a true e-commerce platform for “shopping”. It’s also a very transparent process. All the pricing is listed right on the order form – so you know exactly how much it costs. You simply pick your services and then checkout. You will be notified by email when the background check is complete, usually within 1-3 days, and then you login and view your reports.
Tom: I see that you do social media screening – I imagine that’s a growing part of what you do. Can you tell me a little bit about that and what kinds of activities get picked up on a social media background check?
Tracy: Social Media screening has gained a lot of ground in recent years. We have some clients who choose it as their most significant piece of the puzzle – while some don’t do any social media screening at all. A social media background check looks for key words and even images mainly relating to violence, drugs, hate speech, Insults and Bullying etc. It even shows the groups you follow and like, like if you followed a KKK group, it would show up. We can get detailed and creative with our scraping technology BUT everything is always double checked by someone in-house. It checks Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and now even Google.
One of the biggest misconceptions with social media screening is we don’t ask for password information. The only thing we are allowed to do by law is see what is public.
Charles: Do you specialize in particular industries or does GBS work across the board?
Tracy: There is no industry or company that is immune from potentially hiring a bad apple. Every single business is a prospect. GBS works with companies of all sizes – from the privately owned corner store to the Fortune 500’s.
Tom: Who is currently using GBS?
Tracy: Businesses that want more from their background screening partner. Businesses that want customized options and flexibility. Businesses that want the security of knowing that we will keep them informed of all hiring laws, regulations and requirements in their state. Businesses that want total control of their screening process.
We also have a community partner program that we started earlier this year that a lot of trade associations and non-profits have joined. It allows them to offering our background screening services to their network by giving them a discount.
Charles: How did your partnership with CuriousCheck come about?
Tracy: Well 2 years ago, I was having issues with my website as I was outsourcing all my SEO and web development to a company in the Philippines. One day my web developer just stopped answering my emails and had no idea what to do.
I quickly learned that outsourcing overseas was the biggest mistake I ever made. Within days, I found Carlos at CuriousCheck and his team revamped my whole site and they continue to work on SEO and other marketing for our business. A big piece I was missing before CuriousCheck was the technology aspect of an online business. He has taken GBS to the next level and we literally have thousands of people coming on our site daily.
Tom: Thanks for joining us today, Tracy, for Adventures in Growth Hacking.
Tracy: Thanks for having me, I enjoyed it.
