When a convenient job vacancy goes out, people do everything in their power to get it. It’s no secret that many lie in their CVs, and they take the position from someone more suitable, thus causing damage not only to the right person but also to companies.

Alexandra Fillia Kelly, a determined businesswoman and advocate for the hard workers, decided to step in and founded a company that does a thorough background check on applicants. Her long experience in business and strategies helped her raise and develop her company Powerchex which would later serve as the foundation of HireRight.

After Alexandra sold Powerchex, it was rebranded as HireRight, but the premise remained the same - checking for frauds. Since day one, they have been on the hunt but ran across many obstacles on the way.

Alexandra’s persistence and diligence brought her to the peak of success, but the road to the top was one hell of a hike.

Early Years

Alexandra Filia Kelly was born and raised in Greece. Her parents raised her to believe in herself and become an independent woman one day. They taught her that education and knowledge are shields no one can take away from her and the keys to success.

As a teenager, Alexandra was dedicated to school and was eager to learn something more. She became fluent in English and French just from the school classes.

She knew that all the knowledge she'd gathered at school would be a foundation for academic studies. Therefore, she brought a sound call on what she wanted to be - a successful businesswoman.

Study Hard, and Rest Later

Alexandra was one of the women who studied and worked hard, so they could have a peaceful retirement. She managed to get the B.A. in record time, but she decided to level up and pursue her entrepreneurial spirit.

At age of 25, Alexandra decided to move to America for master's studies at one of the most prestigious schools in the US - William E. Simon School of Business. After she got her MBA, Alexandra and her then-boyfriend decided to go on a world sailing trip to clear her mind and fix some goals to stabilize the future.

However, Alexandra had to cancel the trip because they discovered they were going to become parents. But, while being a businesswoman meant she had to become a wonder woman - a role which Alexandra gladly accepted.

Although it was difficult to juggle between being a mom and leading a successful career, Alexandra never backed down.

Jumbled Business History

Alexandra enjoyed her job - business and finance. As she finished school, her first work experience was as a consultant at the Hydrogen Group, where she advised Risk Management Strategies.

Her first work demanded lots of attention, but it taught her a valuable lesson. She had a pragmatic base of the issues in a business, which gave her the foundation to consider starting her business. And, so she did.

A StartUp in the Making

As any other entrepreneur, Alexandra didn’t only want to be a boss lady with steady business, but a purposeful one. Every entrepreneur has innovative ideas, but not everyone has provocative ones.

Alexandra's idea was to start a pre-employment screening firm. Not a generic pre-employment screening firm, but Point blank at London's financial sector.

However, the beginning wasn't an easy level in her play. In cases where a future founder acts hostile to finance sectors seems a bit of trouble. After all, to start a company one needs back up from an investor.

Alexandra had no trouble going toe to toe to BBC's Dragons' Den presenting her idea. But, that meeting didn't last long, because everyone thought the idea wasn't sustainable.

The Dragons firmly decided that the idea isn't doable, and called it a day. Yet, Alexandra wasn’t one for giving up. Instead of going back to a comfort zone, she continued with her plans and hired her first employee.

In the heart of London, she opened her office and started her business small - with one employee only. She didn't need much, just a clear focus on her goals.

Creating her business plan was the most important for her. She crafted a business plan that in 5 years of time, she managed to hire 60 employees and reach funding of PO7 million.

Merging with HireRight Inc

After 5 years of nurturing her own company, Alexandra got a handsome proposal. HireRight Inc. a US background screening company, proposed the acquisition of her Powerchex.

Alexandra was more than happy with the proposal, and she agreed to sell her company under one condition - to remain the Managing Director of HireRight's background in the EMEA region. After she sold the company, Powerchex was renamed HireRight. And that’s how HireRight Inc.'s success story began.

HireRight Duty

HireRight is a background check company, and its duty is to search through the record that employees send to companies.

Hence, HireRight digs into the background of a future employee, and they aim to find data that might hurt the hiring company. That includes criminal records, thefts, or other red flags that point out the employee isn't who they claim to be.

Essentially HireRight helps corporations in hiring because the data they provide and filter is valid. Over time, HireRight faced many conflicts with the people they examined because they got in their way of getting the job they wanted. However, their duty is to always tell the truth!

The importance of HireRight is excellent because it prevents the wrong employees from stealing a work spot of the right people. Also, it helps companies to know who they are dealing with.

HireRight was initially founded in 1995 and managed to hold a withstanding reputation over the years. Until one day, when everything went south.

Obstructing Justice

As HireRight dainty is researching the background of real people, it often walks a thin line between justice and felony.

In 2011, HireRight was accused of not doing their job as required or failing to provide the reports to job applicants. Specifically, HireRight failed to provide updated data to companies and overlooked crucial information for which they paid fairly.

Since the justice wasn't on their side, HireRight had to pay their share of $28 million to plaintiffs.

A year later, on August 8, HireRight was accused of violating the FCRA and got fined $2.6 million. The reputation of HireRight slowly decreased as the sums they paid spoke only of a great felony. As a result, their working ethic became a popular topic on multiple forums.

To get back on track, HireRight had to work on getting people's trust back. It was a slow process, but simply by following the rules, they managed to stand tall again.

HireRight Today

Remember how Alexandra started with one employee at the beginning? Currently, HireRight has over 5,000 employees under its wing. That’s what happens when you feed your confidence instead of your fears.

From a small office to a giant corporation - HireRight managed to gather enough funds to go IPO. Apparently, this business strategy loosely translates to budget refill time!

They set a date for going public, and it was on 29 October 2021. In a month or so, they managed to gather $422.2M. Internal finance experts are satisfied with the first month’s outcome and optimistically looking forward to the next one. The bottom line is - HireRight rises again despite all the claims or difficulties along their way.