Job Applicant Credit Checks
A job applicant credit report will show details about you and your finances, including your name, address, previous addresses, and social security number. It also shows the debt you have incurred including credit card debt, mortgage, car payment, student loans, and other loans and your payment history, including late payments and defaulted loans.
Before a company can check your credit, they need your permission. What they discover can be an issue for job appliants. Especially when you've been unemployed, it can be hard to have a good credit history.
However, there are ways you can let prospective employers know, up front, that there may be issues when they run a credit check. It's better to be proactive and, at least, have a chance at getting further ahead in the application process than to have a company find out by surprise that you have credit problems.
Dennis Nason, CEO, of executive search firm Nason & Nason, shares his tips and advice for for handling job applicant credit checks.
How to Handle Job Applicant Credit Checks
- Be up front and don't lie or attempt to deceive.
- Explain what you have done to do your best to meet your obligations but there
- are limitations.
- Show you have adjusted your life style to a more moderate or no income reality.
- Demonstrate you have diligently sought work at various levels to meet your obligations.
- Understand that you are not alone, and do not allow yourself to be denigrated by the experience as you are a victim not a cause of the recession.
- Be prepared to take part time or temporary work to keep cash flowing and make modest or even token payments on your obligations.
- If you lose a job purely based on credit reports, move on as it demonstrates the inflexible work environment you would have had to endure.
