For HR and recruiters

Someone asked you to confirm a record. Here is what we need, and why.

A person who worked or studied with you asked certo to check a job or a qualification on their passport with your organisation. You confirm the facts that match your records. That is all.

About a minute
No account
Facts only, no opinion

What we ask you to do

Open the link in our e-mailYou see the record as the person claimed it, usually the job title and the dates. If they chose to share them, you also see their date of birth and an employee or student number, to find the right record.
Tick what matches your recordsOnly what you can see in your own HR, payroll or student records. Leave anything else unticked.
Name your team and sendWrite a team, such as “HR” or “People Operations”, not your own name, and press “Send the answer”.

What you will see

Maya Rahman has asked us to confirm a record with Halden Freight.

What was claimed

Job titleOperations Planner

DatesMarch 2021 to August 2024

To help you find the right person

Date of birth14 March 1987

Employee numberE-10442

For finding the record only. These are not facts to confirm.

Confirm the job title

Confirm the dates

Which team is answeringHR

Send the answerWe can't find a matching recordI am not the right personWe do not answer these requests

An example, with made-up details.

Any honest answer is fine

None of these is a problem for you. The record simply shows what happened.

If you…	The record shows…
Tick everything	Each fact as confirmed by your organisation.
Tick some facts	Those as confirmed. The rest stay marked as claimed by the person.
Press “We can’t find a matching record”	Nothing confirmed, and that your organisation found no matching record.
Press “I am not the right person”	Nothing yet. We stop writing to you and ask the next contact, or the person you name.
Press “We do not answer these requests”	Nothing confirmed, and that your organisation declined. Nobody else there is asked.

Why confirm a former employee's job?

You already hold these facts: in most countries an employer states a job's dates and the kind of work in a certificate or in the records it keeps. A confirmed record helps the person into their next job, and certo asks on their behalf, with their explicit consent, for these facts only. Answering is still voluntary.

Confirming a degree or a certificate instead? Education verification · Certification verification

Disclosing what an employee did for you is processing their personal data, so it needs a legal basis. Here it is the person's own request.

Consent of the person (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)). In the EU and the EEA the General Data Protection Regulation applies directly. The person's request names your organisation and the exact facts, so it is specific and informed, and it is freely given: the person alone decides whether to ask.
You can prove it (GDPR Art. 7(1)). A controller relying on consent must be able to show it. certo keeps a record of every request: which account asked, when, and for which facts. Write to support@certo.bio and we send you the record for the request you received.
Only what is needed (GDPR Art. 5(1)(c)). The request lists only the facts the person wants confirmed, and the page lets you confirm only those. Never an opinion, performance, pay, a reason for leaving, or anything about health, family, beliefs or a criminal record.
National labour law. Some countries add their own rule on what a former employer may say about an employee, often that it needs the employee's consent. Each country's page below quotes it.

You do not have to answer. No law we know of obliges you to answer certo. Press "We do not answer these requests" and the record shows that your organisation declined; nothing else is asked of you.

This is not legal advice. These pages explain why certo considers answering lawful, as the law stood on the date each country's page gives. They are not legal advice for your organisation. If your legal team has a question, write to support@certo.bio.

Country by country

Each page quotes the law that applies and what it means for your answer. More countries are being added.

250 countries

A country without its own page yet follows the basis above.

Questions HR teams ask

Is this e-mail genuine?

The link in our e-mail opens a page on certo.bio. We never ask for passwords, payment or attachments, and the page needs no account.

We have several people with this name.

Search by the date of birth or the employee number shown under “To help you find the right person”, if the person shared them. Still more than one match, or none? Press “We can’t find a matching record”. Never confirm a record you are not sure is theirs.

Our policy is not to give references.

This is not a reference. We ask for no opinion, only facts you would confirm in any employment check. If your policy still says no, press “We do not answer these requests”. Nothing is confirmed, and that is fine.

Who sees our answer?

The person, and the employers they approve, see which facts your organisation confirmed and the team name you typed. Nobody outside certo sees your e-mail address.

What do you keep about me?

The address we wrote to is deleted 90 days after the request closes. If it is on your organisation’s own domain, or your answer proved it, we keep it as your organisation’s contact for later requests, until it goes 12 months without an answer. The answer page sets no cookies and runs no analytics. To show the answer came from your organisation, we record the network it came from, the browser family and the country: the address and browser for 30 days, the rest for 12 months. Read the privacy page