Credit Reporting is Causing Good People Good Jobs

Many report about the unemployed and their trials and tribulations but one thing that they never mention often enough is a big factor in the numbers seemingly holding steady. There have been many reports detailing the jobs which currently exist but the number of applicants attempting to land that job. There have been many reports detailing the requirements for a particular job being more than the average person possess, so some have advocated re-training. All these are positive steps to reduce the unemployment rolls and excellent tools to get more people back to work but one item barely covered is this fascination of business to now use an applicant’s credit report as a factor in their decisions to hire. Below is an example of the effect of a bad credit report;

“Thank you for your interest in the position of ________________at location 1440. We sincerely appreciate your interest in career opportunities with _______. Regretfully, we have decided to pursue other candidates at this time. This notification is for this opening only. If you have applied to other positions further communication regarding your status will be provided for each application you submitted.”

“Please keep in mind that new opportunities are constantly arising. We strongly encourage you to continue reviewing our current job opportunities. As a reminder, you must apply for each position you are interested in pursuing. We wish you much success in securing a position that will satisfy your career objectives.”

You have got to admit that it is a pretty good brush-off and it did not contain the phrase “over-qualified” as many of those in the past had. So I guess that is something positive that one could take away from this. It’s sad though that a piece of paper detailing the failings of one who has lost their job or had other catastrophes happen to them is so essential to whether or not you deserve a job but I guess it could have been worse, they could have interviewed my ex-wife or the third grade teacher that I threw paper at. Bottom line I know that no one will be able to do that job better than I could so it’s really their loss not to mention using the credit report as a tool to determine people’s eligibility to get a job could be illegal. But that’s another story. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.