Overview
The Yardstik iCIMS integration lets your recruiters order background checks without leaving iCIMS. Once it's connected, your Yardstik screening packages appear on jobs in iCIMS, and moving a candidate into the Send to Yardstik workflow status orders their background check automatically.
Setup takes two steps: your iCIMS administrator grants Yardstik access to a few iCIMS fields, then a Yardstik account admin enters your iCIMS Customer ID in Yardstik.
Before you begin
Make sure you have the following in place:
A live iCIMS instance with the Yardstik background screening connector provisioned by iCIMS.
A Send to Yardstik workflow status in your iCIMS instance. iCIMS creates this status for you as part of their implementation. If you don't see it, contact your iCIMS representative.
Your iCIMS Customer ID, the numeric ID of your iCIMS instance. Your iCIMS representative can confirm it if you're unsure.
A Yardstik account admin with access to Developer Tools in the Yardstik Account App.
Your iCIMS administrator, who will grant field access in Step 1.
Step 1: Grant Yardstik access to iCIMS fields
Yardstik reads a small, fixed set of fields from iCIMS to place each order. Your iCIMS administrator grants this access per User Group. Complete this step before connecting in Yardstik: without it, your packages will still sync, but your first order will fail.
Yardstik requests exactly these seven fields: firstname, middlename, lastname, email, jobid, jobtitle, bgcpackagetype
The User Group Yardstik's connector runs under is created by iCIMS during provisioning and is typically named Yardstik API. Confirm the name in your instance before you start.
Person fields
In iCIMS, open Admin → System Configuration.
In the left-hand menu, scroll to Tools to Screen Applicants and click Background Screen → Configure.
Under Profile Fields, click Background Screen Panel. The Person profile field editor opens, titled "Background Screen", on the Screen tab.
At the top right, check Show Hidden Tabs, Panels, Sections & Fields and Show Integration IDs.
In the User Group dropdown at the top left, select Yardstik API.
Click the Contact tab. In the General Information section, uncheck Hidden for First Name (firstname), Middle Name (middlename), Last Name (lastname) and Email (email). Leave Read-Only as is.
Click Save.
Job fields
Back in System Configuration, type
bgcpackagetypein the Search for field or setting box and search.Click the result, Background Check Package (jcf3048 - bgcpackagetype). The Job profile field editor opens on the Detail tab with that row highlighted.
At the top right, check Show Hidden Tabs, Panels, Sections & Fields and Show Integration IDs.
In the User Group dropdown at the top left, select Yardstik API.
Uncheck Hidden for these fields. Leave Read-Only as is.
Background Check Package (bgcpackagetype), in the Screening section
Job ID (jobid), in Job Template Information
Job Posting Title (jobtitle), in Job Posting Data
Click Save.
Step 2: Connect iCIMS in Yardstik
The Yardstik side of setup is a single field.
Log in to the Yardstik Account App.
Go to Developer Tools → Integrations.
Click Get Started on the iCIMS card.
On the iCIMS Credentials card, enter your iCIMS Customer ID.
Click Save Changes.
Once saved, the integration header shows an ACTIVE badge.
Ordering a Background Check from iCIMS
You can order a Yardstik background check without leaving iCIMS. Once your job is set up with a background check package, ordering is as simple as moving a candidate to a new workflow status.
How to order a background check
Move the candidate into the Send to Yardstik workflow status.
That’s it. Changing the status places the order. There’s no separate order button and no form to fill out. Yardstik uses the package selected on the job and the candidate’s details from their application.
What you’ll see
Within a second or two, iCIMS shows one of the following:
Success: A green check with the message “Background Screen: Yardstik — Follow the link to confirm the action.”
Not ordered: A red ✖ with a message explaining what went wrong. See If your order isn’t placed below.
After a successful order, the candidate’s Screen tab in iCIMS updates to show the order as sent, even before the candidate has started.
What the candidate receives
The candidate gets an email invitation from Yardstik, branded with your company’s account branding. The invitation expires after seven days.
The candidate enters sensitive details, such as their Social Security number and date of birth, directly in the secure Yardstik portal. Yardstik never requests this information from iCIMS and never sends it back to iCIMS.
If your order isn’t placed
If something prevents the order, you’ll see one of these messages in iCIMS:
What happened | Message you’ll see |
No package is selected on the job | No background check package is selected on this job. Select a package on the job and move the candidate to the screening status again. |
The selected package doesn’t match an active package in Yardstik | The background check package selected on this job does not match an enabled package in Yardstik. Review the package selected on the job and try again. |
When an order isn’t placed, nothing is created in Yardstik, so there’s no need to clean anything up. To try again:
Fix the package selection on the job.
Move the candidate out of the Send to Yardstik status.
Move the candidate back into Send to Yardstik.