Debt Can Ruin Your Job Prospects
So, you’re looking for a job. You’ve carefully done your homework – researched the company’s profile, got your resume approved by the hr manager and are going to an interview finally. It’s a time consuming and hard work – looking for a job. You feel prepared and optimistic, waiting for a job offer to come. The interview has been smooth and friendly and suddenly the hiring manager says there’s only one small detail they need to check – your credit history. Oh no…
Credit card
debt
can ruin your job prospects, depending on the position you are applying for. You are probably late on the payments and your credit card balance is high because you’ve been unemployed lately and used the credit card a lot. However, the credit card
debt
can be a huge negative factor for the positions that deal with money – directly or indirectly.
Fifty percent of US employers, including governmental institutions, run a credit report check up of their candidates before they hire anyone. Thus, they can create a personality profile to judge your character, to see whether you’ve been making the right decisions, regardless of the duties the position implies. Employers tend to disqualify the
debt
related candidates. Isn’t it ironic?
Employers search for the proof you’ve made mistakes in your life as a marker of dishonesty. Here are some expert tips for people in
debt
to ensure that a poor credit report doesn’t hurt your job prospects:
Don’t sign any papers unless you know what they are. When you’re at the interview, you may be asked to sign some papers – the credit report verification approval may be among those papers. Read carefully and ask if something is not clear enough. Don’t hesitate to ask why the credit report check is considered relevant for the position.
Don’t look surprised when the question of credit reports and
debt
arises. The employers are most likely to address Experian, Equifax or TransUnion for a credit report, so do your homework and check up with these bureaus first to see if the report contains any mistakes. It is a sheer fact that 80n percent of credit reports contain mistakes. Often times these mistakes result in minor to serious problems to people – from failure to get a low interest rate loan to the job denial. So, don’t be lazy and check your credit report long before your potential employer might. Take into account, once you report a mistake in your credit report to the bureau it may take up to month to update your account. So, do this before you start looking for a job.
Another advice is to be honest. Do not lie about your
debt
situation. Be honest and say what lead you to
debt
and what you are doing to get out of
debt
. Very few companies disqualify candidates based just on
debt
situations, they just use this information to start a dialogue with you and see what you say – whether you start lying or tell the truth and be proactive.
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