Checkr Interview Questions
& Process

First, I had a phone screen with a recruiter. They mostly asked about my background and didn't give me much info about the job or team. After that, I did a live coding interview with an engineer. It was a rough time because the engineer kept giving me bad suggestions that I had to push back on and explain why they wouldn't work. Near the end, I got to ask questions, and their answers were things like 'I don't know. You get to do whatever you want,' and 'They haven't fired me yet' or 'Until they fire me.' It really didn't make me feel good about the potential coworkers, seeming like they don't care about their jobs or want to promote it to someone interested.

I had a super quick 2-minute call with a recruiter. They didn't really talk about the team, role, or company at all. Instead, they just asked me to define a SQL left join. I gave them my definition, and they said it wasn't bad but I wasn't moving forward. I asked for clarification on what they were looking for since my answer was technically correct, and they just said 'not what you said' and hung up. Definitely a red flag experience.

So after applying, a recruiter from Checkr hit me up about a preliminary name matching code challenge that's detailed elsewhere. Then we had a 30-minute recruiter phone screen. After that, there was a pretty thorough set of technical challenges: 1) designing an object oriented diagram for a new Checkr feature, 2) an API development exercise, and 3) a core refactoring challenge. They were all pretty straightforward and we were given details beforehand. The whole thing ended with a chat with the hiring manager. Honestly, the interviews felt fair and pretty representative of actual software engineering tasks.

This company's interview process was intense, with multiple rounds requiring over 40 hours of preparation, including a final presentation for their C-suite and senior leaders. I made it to the final stage, but the feedback was vague ('your presentation didn't measure up'), offering no real help. Shockingly, after being told the role was filled, they reposted the exact same job a week later with no explanation. My follow-up emails were then ignored. The interviews focused heavily on technical and operational specifics of my current company's systems and procedures. It felt more like they were trying to extract competitive information than conduct a fair assessment. Considering their market position in background checks, I expected more professionalism, transparency, and respect for candidates' time, especially from a direct competitor. It gave me the impression their hiring funnel is a tool for gathering strategic intelligence rather than a genuine talent search. If you're in the same industry, be very careful about revealing too much.