Kira Horn has only been with Accurate for about three years, but she’s already committed to being a lifer and plans to retire in about 13 years—“if they’ll have me,” she says. She’s not new to the work world having spent three decades working for another top screening company and an insurance company. But over 30+ years of work she’s never encountered a company like Accurate.

While working with her former employer she was part of a merger process that she didn’t feel was surviving the merger well and she was becoming less than enamored with the culture of the company. She began to look for other opportunities—and she found Accurate. She also learned that a couple of her former colleagues had already taken on roles with Accurate. When she reached out to them she was pleased with what she heard about their experiences with the company.

Thorough Interview Process Creates a Sense of Security

Kira was impressed with Accurate’s thorough interview process. Her initial interview was with a recruiter, then she interviewed with the woman who she now reports to. Then she interviewed with the team she is now a part of. The final interview round involved a trip to Accurate’s headquarters where she had the opportunity to see the company and interact with its leaders and employees. While the job Kira applied for is remote (even pre-pandemic), she was glad to have the opportunity to experience the company firsthand.

“I loved it,” Kira says. “It was eyes wide open for both of us.” While on site, Kira was asked to demo aspects of the job to give a sense of her skills and competencies. Her 13 years of experience with another screening firm positioned her well for the role of Solutions Consultant where she supports the sales and account management, and customer service. This involves providing demos to potential customers, and answering questions for RFPs.

Accurate’s thorough and multi-step hiring process, Kira says, really allowed for a better opportunity to get to know the company and for the company to get to know her to ensure a good fit. “That four-step process really works because it really gets the truth out of people because they start to let down their guard and tell you more about themselves.”

In fact, Kira was so impressed with Accurate’s hiring process and the culture of the organization that she suggested her son apply for a job with the company. He’s been on board for about a year now, she says. And, while he works in the same area as she does they report to different managers. Her son was likely influenced by what he observed during Kira’s first months on the job.

Remote Support and a Number of Surprises

Accurate goes the extra mile to support employees wherever they may be located. Kira is in South Carolina. “They sent me a laptop, and a docking station, and two monitors, and a welcome package,” she recalls.

When her one year anniversary rolled around she received another surprise package to commemorate a year of service. After Accurate acquired another company and merged with them she—and all employees at Accurate—received a welcome gift and note to celebrate the merger.

Through it all, she says, her son would continually remark: “Who are these people?” They both felt that Accurate was different, and better, in a number of significant ways compared to other companies they had worked with. But the biggest surprise was yet to come.

When the pandemic hit, Accurate like a number of other companies had to make adjustments to protect its viability and ride out the uncertainty. This included pay cuts for employees which were initially planned to extend through October. But Accurate was quickly back on its feet and not only was Kira’s salary reinstated at its previous level, but she and other employees also received back pay to make up the difference between their lower salary. “We got every penny they held back—who does that?,” Kira shares. “I’ll tell you—no company does that.”

A Tangible Difference That Makes a Difference

Accurate is different, says Kira. She experienced that difference during her hiring and onboarding process, during the pandemic, and during Accurate’s acquisition of another firm. Having gone through mergers previously with two former employers, Kira saw stark differences between Accurate’s approach and the approach of the company she previously worked for.

“In my previous position, it seemed like a very small group of people made a lot of the decisions,” Kira shares. At Accurate, though, she says, “there was someone from each area of the organization brought in to help make decisions.” That inclusion made an enormous difference in terms of smoothly merging the two organizations and building a shared culture and strong communications at all levels of the organization. That inclusion was also exhibited, she says, during Accurate’s annual sales kickoff meeting where it wasn’t just the sales team in attendance at the event in California at Accurate’s headquarters, but a much broader group of participants from across the organization—“all of the people who are part of the full cycle that supports the clients.”

Accurate’s culture is built on four core values pillars that unify the company with a common purpose, define where they’re headed, indicate what they’ll do to get there, what they believe in, and how they will behave with each other and their customers. They are:

• Take ownership: be accountable for your actions, your team, and the company.
• Be open: be open to new ideas.
• Stay curious: stay curious even as you move forward.
• Work as one: work together to create the best customer and workplace experience.

When asked which value resonates with her the most, Kira said it was difficult to pick just one—she feels that each of these values is equally important and equally evident in Accurate’s culture. If she had to pick just one, she says, she would pick “work as one.” Kira says there’s never been an occasion where somebody has said to her “I’m sorry, go to somebody else for that,” or “that’s not my job.” At Accurate, she says, “everybody is working from the same sheet of music.”

It’s a chorus she’s hoping to be part of for another decade or so as she finished her career working with a company and people she feels a very strong affinity for. “I love this organization!,” she says.