Education Background Checks In Canada

An education background check confirms that a candidate's academic credentials are real and were issued by the institution they name, by verifying the record directly with the school's registrar or its authorized records provider rather than relying on a copy of a diploma.

Hire Performance confirms the institution and program name, the major or field of study, the credential type (certificate, diploma, or degree), the dates attended and graduation date where applicable, and the degree status (granted or not granted). For trades and vocational paths, we also verify apprenticeships, certifications, and accreditation status.

Every check is consent-based, mobile-friendly, and managed end to end by our Canadian team. Reports name the official source of verification and flag any discrepancy between the record and what the candidate claimed, so hiring managers have a clear, auditable basis for their decision.

In Canada, education verification is most often run after a conditional offer, as part of a full screening package, because this keeps the hiring decision separate from screening results and limits privacy and human-rights exposure. Some employers verify a specific credential earlier, before an offer, when that credential is a bona fide requirement for the candidate to be considered at all — common for regulated professions and specialized technical roles where an unverified degree or licence would disqualify the applicant outright.

Hire Performance supports both approaches and can configure the workflow to match your policy: post-offer bundles that combine education with criminal, employment, and reference checks, or pre-offer verification of a single critical credential where the role requires it. When a start date is tight, we can prioritize the essential credential first and stage the remaining checks so onboarding stays on track.

A standard education verification confirms what a candidate earned, drawn from the institution's own records. A typical report includes:

• Institution and campus, where relevant
• Program or major
• Credential type (certificate, diploma, or degree)
• Degree or diploma status (conferred or not conferred)
• Graduation date, plus any honours or distinctions the institution releases

Grades and transcripts are verified only when a candidate provides them or your policy authorizes their release. For international education, we confirm legitimacy through the issuing body or an accredited verification service and can reference credential-equivalency frameworks when you need a Canadian comparison. Results are presented in a clear, auditable format, with any discrepancy flagged and explained.

No. An education check confirms academic credentials. Employment verification is a separate check that confirms job titles, dates of employment, and sometimes responsibilities with a candidate's past employers.

Many employers run both for a complete picture of a candidate's qualifications, which matters most for regulated or technical roles such as engineers, healthcare professionals, accountants, and educators, where both the degree and the work history are part of the requirement.

Hire Performance can bundle education verification with employment, credential, and criminal checks in a single report, so you are not coordinating separate requests or vendors.

Hire Performance verifies credentials across Canada and internationally, including from:

• Universities and colleges
• Trade schools and apprenticeship programs
• Professional institutes and designation bodies
• Professional memberships and licences tied to an education path (teaching, healthcare, and the skilled trades)

For international education, we work with global verification networks and institutional registrars to confirm legitimacy and credential status. When an institution has closed or its records are archived, we contact the official custodian of those records.

To verify education, a candidate provides their full legal name (including any former or maiden name used while studying), the institution and campus, the program or major, the credential type, the graduation date where applicable, and the approximate dates attended. Institutions often also need a date of birth or student identifier to locate the record, and some require a signed consent form or transcript-release authorization before they will confirm it. Our mobile-friendly workflow collects these automatically as part of the candidate's intake. Accurate name variants and date ranges are the single biggest factor in avoiding delays, since a registrar searches its records by exactly those details. Hire Performance manages identity validation, registrar communication, and status updates throughout.

Turnaround depends on the institution and how its records can be accessed. There is no single timeline, because each registrar sets its own process.

As a general guide:

• Many Canadian and U.S. institutions: 1 to 3 business days, where the registrar uses an automated or online verification system
• Manual lookups or archived records: 3 to 10 business days
• International institutions: often longer, depending on time zones, language, and documentation requirements

Our workflow captures the candidate's details in minutes and our team manages every registrar follow-up. You receive status updates as the check progresses and a decision-ready report with any discrepancy highlighted.

For international education, Hire Performance confirms the credential directly with the issuing institution or its authorized records agent, and separately validates that the institution itself is legitimate. The second step is what catches diploma mills: unaccredited operations that sell degrees, diplomas, and transcripts without any real coursework behind them.

Our process:

• Confirms the credential with the issuing institution or authorized agent
• Validates the institution's legitimacy against recognized accreditation bodies and government registries
• Flags unaccredited or non-recognized schools, with clear context on why
• Provides credential-equivalency insight through accepted frameworks or designated evaluation partners when you request it

Our team handles regional documentation, translation, and archived-record nuances so the result is authentic and defensible. Diploma mills are a documented risk in Canada, including in fields tied to public safety, which is why institutional legitimacy is verified rather than assumed.

Every verification is consent-based and handled in line with Canadian privacy law, including PIPEDA at the federal level and the provincial statutes that apply, such as Alberta's PIPA, British Columbia's PIPA, and Quebec's Law 25. Our safeguards include:

• Encryption in transit and at rest, where applicable
• Role-based access controls and audit logs
• Data minimization and limited retention
• Contractual security obligations for any vetted third-party processor

Where a verification requires cross-border processing, we apply legal and technical safeguards and are transparent about the jurisdictions involved. Data is kept only as long as needed for the check and then securely deleted or de-identified under our retention schedule. As a member of the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA), Hire Performance follows recognized industry standards for handling candidate information.