Should Potential Employers be Allowed to Run Background and Credit Checks – Yes
One of the many challenges of hiring new people is being unfamiliar with their backgrounds. While their employment history may provide the professional picture of what a person does on the job, there are many things that can be determined from a background check that can save companies thousands of dollars. Some of the things that background and credit checks are helpful for include:
Criminal records - Stop and consider this from an employers point of view. If you are hiring someone to keep your books or to handle money, you do not want to hire someone who has a criminal record that includes any type of theft including bounced personal checks. This is just opening yourself up for potential problems;
Drunk driving - Drunk driving incidents can also impact a company if they are hiring someone to drive their vehicles. Hiring someone with a criminal drunk driving record can have an impact on the company insurance premiums and other liability insurance. Drunk driving charges may also be a signal that a person has a drinking problem and this could be problematic if you are hiring someone to work on heavy equipment.
Credit problems - While many people may have had credit issues that can be explained by lost jobs, medical issues or other catastrophic problems, credit problems can create problems for a company who hires someone with a bad credit record. If a person is applying for a position and a credit request is included in the forms the potential employee should take the lead and explain what they may find if there are possible problems.
Bankruptcy and fraud - Credit reports can also provide information on bankruptcy filings and fraud charges that might not be found on a standard background check. A fraud report can result in serious losses to a company if they are not aware of them prior to hiring someone. Because of bankruptcy laws, employers should be able to review credit reports for abuse in filing for bankruptcy. While a single bankruptcy may have valid reasons behind it, multiple filings could be a result of someone who is abusing the system.
Summary
Many people feel that background checks and credit checks are invasion of privacy issues. However, if you look at the problems that are associated with hiring a new person, there are many valid reasons for having these types of checks. If a potential employee feels that information may be used against them, they do have the opportunity to provide information that explains any information found on either of these reports. Since more and more companies are exercising their right to request these types of checks prior to even inviting someone for an interview, it is probably a good idea to prepare letters in advance and be prepared to submit them with your employment application.
