[00:00:007] Kylie Speer:
Hello and welcome to HRD Asia TV. I'm Kylie Speer and my guest today is Daniel Callaghan, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Veremark. Veremark has been recognized in the inaugural HRD Asia Readers' Choice Awards 2025 under the Recruitment Solutions / Software Provider category. Welcome to you, Daniel. Congratulations and thank you so much for joining us today.
[00:00:] Daniel Callaghan:
Well, thank you very much, Kylie. It's a pleasure to be here and obviously thank you very much for all the readers who have selected Veremark as their preferred solution. So, you know, excited.
[00:00:45] Kylie Speer:
Well, firstly, Daniel, your clients are promised clarity, speed and accountability. In general terms, how do you deliver on each of these three pillars?
[00:00:56] Daniel Callaghan:
Yeah, absolutely. So Veremark is a global pre-employment screening and background checking company. Obviously, for our clients, what that means is it's the last step before their candidates are about to start work or can get made that job offer. What they really look for is a fast turnaround time, accurate results, and great transparency around communication around exactly where all those checks are and the process. Now, what we have embedded into Veremark is a real focus on sort of what we call the four S's: speed, simplicity, security, service. It's how we design our entire product around those key pillars. It's how we engage and incentivize our team. And it's making sure that from a technology point of view, where the things can be automated, where the things can be integrated, that that's done. And make sure that from a service point of view, whenever a response is requested via customer support or such, then we have clearer surveys around how quickly we can get back to you. But it's always a blend of the world of best class technology and world of best class human service.
[00:02:04] Kylie Speer:
Veremark operates across 180 plus countries. How do you ensure integrity and accuracy across such a broad scope?
[00:02:15] Daniel Callaghan:
It's an interesting challenge. We do offer a global array of checks, as you say, across 180 plus countries. For Veremark, it's always point of source origin. It means that we are connected to the official data sources that would provide such information. That might be a government's criminal database. It might be actually going and speaking exactly to the university or exactly to the employers directly. But the first point around accuracy is by making sure that we have this global map of exactly where the appropriate data is housed, who do we get it from, and what can we do to access it in the fastest, speediest way. Layered on top of that is, again, the technology aspect that helps our clients govern that global rules of regulations and what you can and can't ask in each country. And it is the combination of those, the ability to make sure that we're going to the appropriate source, that we ourselves as an ISO-certified business and SOC 2 certified business can process that information as quickly as possible and then ensure our clients aren't falling foul of any employment or discrimination or data laws.
[00:03:28] Kylie Speer:
With the mission to help the world trust faster, are there any countries where you're unable to operate due to external factors?
[00:03:38] Daniel Callaghan:
The view of the mission to help the world trust faster really actually just speaks to the speed of which we are trying to help people prove how good they are. Background screening is often seen as a negative and we want it to be actually say look no you know yes one in four people may lie but that also means three or four are telling the truth and if we can help people realize that then obviously we are we are helping people get to jobs faster earn a living faster support their families faster. With regards to the countries then absolutely you know we won't operate or do checks in for a variety of reasons in countries where there are sanctions and so forth. And so Russia and Iran may have probably proven more difficult, North Korea and so forth, proven more difficult to operate in. And obviously getting payments in and out of there causes a whole number of red flags. That means predominantly our clients don't want to do checks there, nor are we able to facilitate it.
[00:04:37] Kylie Speer:
Daniel, automation is one of your key strengths. How have you built ATS and HRIS integrations into your system?
[00:04:46] Daniel Callaghan:
The world of HR tech, as all of your readers know, is advancing at a rapid pace. We think that being able to provide not only a highly automated service from the check delivery perspective that just makes it easier and faster and simpler for our clients to use, but actually just the ordering of those checks and therefore being able to be an embedded part of a client's HR tech stack flow being a key point of friction elimination. It should all be done in one system or report through one system, one system of record. And on that basis, Veremark has now built out 20 plus different HRIS or ATS integrations that on a click of a button for an API code will just turn on and let Veremark become a seamless part of your normal workflow.
[00:05:32] Kylie Speer:
Recruiters benefit from live status updates and ETAs, which reduce chasing and shorten cycle times. Do you have any data or estimates on time saved and efficiency gains?
[00:05:47] Daniel Callaghan:
If you break down exactly what we do from a screening perspective, there are multiple components of how quickly can a client order a check. How quickly can they provide all their information and without as much or as little inconvenience as possible? Then there's the processing time on the checks and obviously then getting the results or queries back to the client. Now, each stage of that is very marked because it's already proven its superiority to the market. Firstly, just on the candidate ordering perspective, we've talked about the integrations, which means your pre-built criteria just is as simple as just clicking a button, which saves time there. The candidate experience, if you look at our competitors, they're typically one star out of five rated. They're very much so, 4.7. We're seeing about a day to two days per candidate on collecting that information in a process that now only takes about 10 minutes as opposed to previously taking many hours. On the process of those checks, again, we're seeing because of the instant employment, the instant databases and API connections we've built out, we're seeing turnaround times short from three to five days coming down into seconds or hours, again, as soon as we acquire that candidate information. And then obviously all of that is wrapped up in just a great service and the reduction of admin time or chasing of your clients who would otherwise have to wait for a lot of back and forth from an unresponsive candidate service team. So overall, you know, we think reducing 30% of your usual delivery times is very much a common experience.
[00:07:23] Kylie Speer:
Security and privacy are critical for companies handling sensitive data. How robust is Veremark in this area? And if there have been any breaches, what were the lessons learned?
[00:07:37] Daniel Callaghan:
You can imagine in this day and age of data protection, just how important Veremark takes both security and privacy and compliance from a candidate perspective. For us, we have always built the enterprise level guardrails of security around that. And it's something that we continue to invest in. We are an ISO certified business, we're a SOC 2 certified business. We have cyber securities. I'm certainly the least technical of the founding trio, so I wouldn't want to agree about it, except that obviously I know that it's something that we continue to invest in and have all of the accreditations necessary to do so. I'm pleased to say we're maintaining a strong record on all fronts there.
[00:08:19] Kylie Speer:
With global operations and Follow the Sun support, can users expect quick resolution to issues or challenges with platform features?
[00:08:29] Daniel Callaghan:
Yeah, absolutely. We build our propositions on these four S's of speed, simplicity, security and service. Service is fundamental to the company and then can they client experience. So not only do they have live chat or telephone calls to be able to get through or a customer support email, but as you say, the platform itself just brings up real-time updates and a full audit trail about every activity that's gone through the platform. So in essence, you don't really need to speak to anyone. You've got all the data in front of you straight away there. And I think that shows through in your readers' experiences so far.
[00:09:12] Kylie Speer:
And finally, Daniel, twice a year you set internal themes around lawful global screening, operational transparency and quality. What are your current focus areas and what improvements are planned for the platform?
[00:09:27] Daniel Callaghan:
We're very excited about the future. We think that there is the real opportunity to expand Veremark's mission. You know, we want to not only help the world trust faster, we want to help the world build safer and more trusted workplaces. One product that we recently built is a whistleblowing software platform and a full case audit management platform around that. That just helps create organizations, create a stronger culture of speaking up or identifying potential wrongdoing in their organization. So that's certainly something that we're very excited to bring to market and has already served to see great early success.
[00:10:01] Kylie Speer:
Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Daniel, and huge congratulations once again.
[00:10:07] Daniel Callaghan:
Yeah, thank you. It's been a pleasure speaking and thank you to all your readers. So anyone who would like to get in touch and find out about Veremark, can do so just at [email protected]. And obviously delighted anyone who references this video in a conversation will also offer a 10% discount too. So please do get in touch and give Veremark a try and see if you can ensure a safer and more productive workplace of your own.
[00:10:33] Kylie Speer:
That's very generous. And as Daniel has said, thank you of course to our viewers for watching the latest episode of HRD Asia TV. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
