Have you ever been interviewed for a position and been asked permission to have your credit checked as part of their background checking process? I have, and I don’t understand this. Why does an employer need to check your credit? Okay insert B#!#$%# excuse here; that it’s a valid way to verify someone’s character as being solid. I understand that if the position you’re applying for involves handling money, or is a high level management position, the company could be at risk hiring someone with a dodgy credit history. However; there are a hundred ways that a person’s credit could have dark spots on it. Divorce, illness, family and emotional problems. None of these things come up on the TRW report, just the payment history.
Does this mean you don’t want this person working for you?
With the current divorce rate in the U.S. pushing against 60%, you’re going to be hard pressed to find someone in their thirties or forties who has not been divorced. With the economy at an all-time low, you may also be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t missed a payment or has been late on their mortgage once or twice.
Never mind that tangent, here’s the deal.
The company you’ve applied to work for is not extending you credit, actually it’s the contrary. You are extending them a form of credit. How do you as a prospective employee, know that the company you’re applying to work for is reputable and up2date on their financials? If they’re not a public company you really can’t tell. You could check against the Department of Consumer Affairs to see if they have complaints filed against them, but you’re really taking a risk that they are not going to go belly up and leave you high and dry without a job. If you ask me (and you didn’t but too bad), the risk is on you as the employee, not the other way around.
Another practice hiring companies are doing is asking for your social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and in one case I heard of a company asking to login to the candidate’s web based email. That’s F%$#ing crazy! Maybe soon companies will want to have a home visit, or sift though your curbside garbage bags to ensure you’re recycling.
I personally think this practice is bordering on illegal, and prejudicial at best.
The kicker is: when you’re hired for a job, in most cases, you are placed on a probationary period; not given benefits, or 401K, or anything besides a paycheck for 90 days, and sometimes longer. The hiring company can terminate you at anytime without cause during this period. They will not have to pay unemployment benefits, or health insurance, and are at little or no risk to terminate you. If they determine the level of your performance inside the 90 day window to be unsatisfactory, the they just let you go. No risk no foul. I think that is enough protection for a hiring company.
What do you think?
