Report · September 2026
Background Checks in Norway 2026
What Norwegian HR leaders answered in the HR Survey 2026, and what the background checks reveal. Enter your email address and we'll send you the report as a PDF.
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What we did
We build background check tools and wanted to know how Norwegian organisations handle this in practice. So we asked HR managers, HR advisers, recruiters and managing directors. The survey had 17 questions and was open from 5 to 31 August 2026.
The responses are compared against the results from background checks Right Person has carried out from August 2021 to September 2026. The survey shows what organisations do today. The check data shows what the checks find. The survey is small, and the figures should be read as what these respondents said, not as a measure of the entire market. We publish percentages only, and no organisations or individuals are named.
The survey asked about
How candidates are checked today
What organisations check before hiring, what prevents them from checking more, and which parts of the process take the most time.
Who should do the job
Whether HR would prefer to do the verification themselves or outsource it. The question was asked both without pricing information and with two specific alternatives to choose from.
Where the line is drawn
At how many hires per year it pays to outsource the work, compared to how many the organisation actually makes.
Payment and tools
Which payment model suits you best and which parts of recruitment should be handled internally.
Nearly two in three candidates have at least one discrepancy after the background check
Most discrepancies are minor, and a discrepancy doesn't mean the candidate is unsuitable. A discrepancy means that a piece of information didn't match what the candidate provided, or that the source revealed something the employer should know about.
- 20 %
- of employment history checks end with a discrepancy. Most often the period stated is longer or the title higher than the employer confirms. 60% of respondents check employment history today.
- 12,5 %
- of education verifications end with a discrepancy. Yet fewer than half of respondents verify education.
- 64 %
- of respondents check references. A reference says something about how the candidate performed in the role, but doesn't verify whether education, job titles and periods are correct. That's why the two should be used together.
- 46 %
- would prefer the provider to carry out the checks. 95% want to keep the interviews themselves.
The report compares respondents' practice against the discrepancy rate for each check, walks through Right Person's three bundles and the criminal record certificate, and answers the questions we're most often asked about background checks. It also shows how organisations prefer the verification work to be handled.
The most common reason respondents don't check more is that they haven't experienced the need. At the same time, the check data shows that many discrepancies only become visible once the check has been carried out.
The report
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Download the report (PDF, 12 MB)For every verified response in the survey, Right Person donated £100 to Make-A-Wish Norway, £1,100 in total.