An employment expert says the number of employers asking to see applicants’ credit rating is on the rise — even for jobs where it isn’t relevant.
A woman recently told the NZ Herald she believed she missed out on a retail role because of her credit rating.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Skills Group’s Jane Kennelly said credit checks have been done for years in roles responsible for handling money, such as in the accounting and banking industries.
“But I think what’s happening now is that it’s creeping into other roles.”
In industries where credit scores weren’t relevant, she called credit checks “big-brother” intrusions. “It doesn’t seem very fair.”
So, what do you do if you’re uncomfortable with a credit check?
Kennelly – Director of People, Marketing and Stakeholder Management for Skills Group – said the big thing to bear in mind was that you needed to provide consent for a credit check to be carried out.
“So, when filling out an application form, it’s really important to read the fine print so they can see what’s going to be checked on.”
She said a second thing to consider – if applying for a role that has nothing to do with handling money – ask why providing credit information was necessary.
“It’s actually not relevant. And that’s where it gets tricky for the poor old jobseeker, because goodness me, one day they’re trying to pay their IRD bill, and the next day trying to pay their [phone] bill, and they may just have a little bit of a bad thing happening in the background.
“Which is no business of anyone else’s except themselves.”
Kennelly said saying ‘no’ could affect chances of getting a job so it’s best to be “diplomatic” and offer alternative ways of proving trustworthiness.
She said a jobseeker could say: “I’m very happy to provide a referee that might talk to my honesty and integrity in my previous role, so I’m happy to do that.”
But if a company insisted on seeing your credit score, Kennelly said that could be a “red flag”.
“People are really struggling, so goodness me, a little bit of privacy actually is a really good thing.”