How do employers verify your educational history when they perform a background check?

Depends on how serious/thorough the company is but I think any employer can contact a U.S. college/university’s office of the registrar and verify your identity by name, degree date, year, and major (I’m pretty sure those are all public records unless the degree recipient specifies otherwise). That’s my understanding coming from the edu. sector stateside…

I had to ask for a transcript to be sent.

Employment screening companies typically use two different types of verification:

1) Web-based verification – With the proliferation of the internet, there are many tools that can be used to verify a resume. If a university website has a posting that confirms the record, this could be enough for a background check. There are also websites that perform automated screens of public available sites like http://www.monster.com or http://www.freeemploymentscreening.com

2) Manual verification – here an employee of the agency performing the background check will contact the institution (either a university or a previous employer) via telephone or mail. This physical confirmation typically occurs after written consent is provided by the job applicant. For more information about manual checks, you should visit http://www.hr.com

The bottom line is that there are many ways to verify a resume. You should ask your employer which screener they use and then follow to determine their particular process.

Hope that helps.