Irvine-based Hire-Right Inc., which does employee background checks and drug screening for other employers, said it plans to expand and move its headquarters to Irvine’s University Research Park.
The company is set to move into a 63,000-square-foot office at 5151 California Ave. by the end of the month, Chief Executive Eric Boden said.
Terms of the lease with The Irvine Company weren’t disclosed.
HireRight now has 39,000 square feet of space in two offices at 2100 and 2040 Main St. in Irvine.
The company employs about 200 workers locally and 370 people in all.
Privately held HireRight has about $40 million in yearly sales.
“HireRight has experienced tremendous growth over the past five years, and we expect to continue to grow,” Boden said.
Boden has ties to the University of California, Irvine, which owns part of University Research Park with the Irvine Co.
He serves on the school’s advisory board and is the chairman of the executive education committee for the Paul Merage School of Business.
HireRight recruits from the university’s criminal justice program, he said. It also hires a number of UC Irvine business school graduates, while other workers are earning their MBAs there.
“HireRight can take advantage of university resources including facilities, staff and students for technology and research and development,” Boden said.
Founded in 1995, HireRight’s claim to fame is developing the first Internet-based background screening service.
The program creates a Web report for employers who are tracking multiple applicants through the hiring process.
Background screening used to be “labor intensive and took a lot of time,” Boden said. “It’s brought dramatic improvements in efficiency and streamlines the recruiting process.”
Since the service was launched in 1997, HireRight has expanded to doing employment verification, criminal record and credit checks for employers.
HireRight does drug and alcohol testing and can analyze urine, saliva and hair.
It also does extensive background searches,including applicants’ motor vehicle records and professional references.
The company targets businesses with 3,000 or more employees.
HireRight works with online recruiters and headhunters.
The company’s early investors include David Duffield and Peggy Taylor, founders of PeopleSoft, now part of Oracle Corp.
Major investors are Robert W. Baird & Co., Mellon Financial Corp., Doll Capital Management and Split Rock Partners.
HireRight has raised about $28 million in funding since 2000 via two venture rounds.
