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Disclosure and authorisation

Before a screening vendor runs anything, the candidate must get a clear written disclosure in a document that contains nothing else.

Not legal advice, and not a form to use unreviewed. This is a plain-language starting point to hand to counsel. Several states require additional language.

What breaks a disclosure

Putting it inside the employment application.
Adding a liability waiver or release of claims.
Adding state-law notices for five states the candidate does not live in, so the document becomes a wall of text about something else.
Combining it with an at-will acknowledgement or arbitration clause.

Starting point

DISCLOSURE REGARDING BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION

[Company] may obtain a consumer report about you for employment purposes.
"Consumer report" means a report about your character, general reputation,
personal characteristics, or mode of living, obtained from a consumer
reporting agency.

The report may be prepared by:
  [Vendor name, address, telephone, website]

[Signature / date lines]

Authorisation is a separate signature, commonly on its own page:

AUTHORIZATION

I have received and read the Disclosure Regarding Background Investigation.
I authorize [Company] to obtain a consumer report about me for employment
purposes, now and, where permitted, during my employment.

[Name, signature, date]

Keep the paperwork. The signed disclosure and authorisation are what you will be asked to produce if anyone questions the process. Retain them the way you retain other hiring records.