What's in your wallet? Potential employer wants to check her credit report

Q: My sister interviewed for a good job and was told she was perfect for it. Then they asked her to sign a form granting permission to run a credit check. Her credit report is full of problems as a result of a divorce several years ago and her good-hearted loan of her credit card to a "friend" who ran up some huge bills and left her stuck with them. Much of this stuff will drop off in a year or two, but that doesn't do much good today when she needs a job. She has run into this a couple of times before, and it appears that most employers are running credit checks. This will leave her out in the cold no matter how qualified she is.

The company yesterday told her the credit check was a way to evaluate character, and there was no appeal. Do you have any suggestions on how to deal with this?

NICK'S REPLY: Your sister should politely decline to give permission to check her credit record. She should consider saying, "Please feel free to check my professional references, however. I'd be glad to have you inquire into my abilities, ethics, character, honesty and my work history. But my credit is private." She must have sterling references ready.

If your sister is a highly qualified candidate, some employers will skip the credit check if she's firm about it. I see more and more companies backing off when candidates decline to divulge salary history as well as private information that is not directly relevant to the job.

Unless the job involves banking or investment work (or something where one's credit situation might be truly revealing), I just don't think it's anyone's business.

If your sister knows the information is going to hurt her, I think she has little to lose by politely declining to provide it. She need offer no explanation other than to say it's private. I think the risk of rejection warrants taking an assertive position like this, but it's a decision she has to make for herself.

THE HEADHUNTER TIP:

What is the job, really?

Every job has a formal, written description, and then there's what the job is really all about. Most job descriptions are jargon-filled bureaucrat-ese written by personnel jockeys. They're not very accurate. But suppose you could get a look at such a job description before your interview. What would that gain you? I can almost guarantee when you meet with the manager of the job, you will find that his description of what he wants you to do is considerably different from what the personnel office told you or what the job ad said. Always get the story from the horse's mouth.

The only person who can give you a good idea about what the job will involve long-term is the manager who's going to hire you. Don't wait until the interview to learn what a job is really about. Call the manager. Ask the question.

Copyright 2009. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate

Nick Corcodilos is author of "Ask The Headhunter: Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job" and the host of www.asktheheadhunter.com. He can be reached by e-mail at seattle@asktheheadhunter.com or at North Bridge Group, P.O. Box 600, Lebanon, NJ 08833. Sorry, no personal replies.