Universal Background Screening | Marketplace Partner

The article provides guidance on utilizing Universal Background Screening in conjunction with BambooHR. It outlines the purpose of the integration, which is to facilitate the submission of background checks by transferring candidate information to the Universal Background client portal. The process begins by changing a candidate's status to "Send to Universal Background," which initiates the background check. Key steps include creating a non-employee user in BambooHR, adding specific candidate statuses, and enabling the integration through an API key. The article also details the data that syncs between BambooHR and Universal and offers support resources for users. Overall, it serves as a comprehensive resource for understanding and implementing the Universal Background Screening integration within BambooHR.

  • Aug 21, 2025
  • Knowledge

Title
Universal Background Screening | Marketplace Partner
Article Text

Purpose: To help you understand what you can use Universal Background Screening for and how you can integrate it with BambooHR.

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Table of Contents

Universal Background Screening

An overview from BambooHR® Marketplace:

Universal Background Screening has partnered with BambooHR to provide an easy-to-use integration that sends pertinent candidate information to the Universal Background client portal. Submit a background check by simply moving a candidate to the Send to Universal Background status. 

Universal will retrieve the background and verification information of the candidate. When you open the client portal, you will find this information pre-populated, and you can simply confirm the package and submit it for processing.

Universal will process the background check and keep you informed of the order status. Once complete, Universal will then provide you with a link directing you to the report for easy access to the candidate's background check report.

You can learn more about Universal Background Screening in BambooHR® Marketplace.

How do I enable the Universal integration?

Create a non-employee user

Full Admin (3)

Before enabling the integration, you will need to create a non-employee user in the Full Admin access level within Settings > Access Levels in BambooHR. When you add an individual as a non-employee user, type Universal for the first name and Background for the last name. The email address is admin@universalbackground.com. 

By doing this, you can identify the notes Universal Background adds to a candidate profile when the background check is processed and completed.

Candidate statuses

Before enabling the integration, you will need to add a few new statuses to your Candidate Statuses list in our applicant tracking feature.

Candidate Statuses

To add new statuses, go to Hiring in Settings and select Candidate Statuses. We recommend adding two new status options to the list:

  1. Send to Universal Background
  2. Received by Universal Background

Using the Send to Universal Background status will initiate the background check.

Enable integration

Universal will provide you with a URL to create your API key. Log in with your Universal credentials and your BambooHR subdomain.* 

*The subdomain is the first part of your BambooHR URL. For example, if your BambooHR URL is https://helpcontent.bamboohr.com, your subdomain would be helpcontent.

If you have not received the URL from Universal, please reach out to their support team. 

How do I initiate a background check?
Emma Jones

Log in to BambooHR. Go to a candidate profile and change the candidate's status to Send to Universal Background.

What data syncs to Universal from BambooHR?

You can find this information in BambooHR® Marketplace. To learn more about syncing fields, please click here and navigate to the Integration section.

Where do I go for support for this integration?

If you are an existing customer using this integration, please be aware that Universal supports this integration.

Click here to find contact information.

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