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As many of you know, I've been out of work since February of this year. It's been rough but I thought that I had finally gotten a job after many interviews. Randstad sent me on an interview at Coca Cola a couple weeks ago. The hiring manager hired me on the spot and I was very grateful even though it was a $20K pay cut from my previous position. I wasn't concerned about this because though I have an MBA in Accounting and over 20 years experience, I'm a single parent with a teenage daughter to support. I was super excited and my start date was supposed to be 9/8. I received an email from the agency that stated they would be conducting an extensive background check to include criminal, work and credit. I promptly contacted my agency contact via phone/email to let her know about my credit. I told her that I had filed BR a couple years ago due to a divorce and I had a judgement for a tax lien that had been satisfied immediately. She assured me that it wouldn't be a problem. Fast forward to the day of orientation at the agency. I was placed in a room by myself and the recruiter said she would have to rescind the offer because of my credit report. Needless to say I was upset because I had already discussed this with her. She gave me some mumbo jumbo about Coca Cola Refreshments wouldn't accept me because of the judgment but. CocaCola company would accept me. I said great, do you have any positions on the company side? She responded no but I'll continue to market your resume . My questions are:
1. If I'm made an offer at another company that does credit checks, at what point do I let them know about my issues?
Isn't Coca Cola virtually paying for your salary? Shouldn't they be the ones that decide whether they want to bring you on-board?
Unfortunately, the temp agency was paying my salary for the first 3 months; however the agency laid the blame squarely on Coca Cola. The agency had an outside agency called Sterling to do the BG check but they (agency) said they had no other choice but to rescind the offer because it was Coke's policy. It was kind of confusing.
Not much you can do though I wish they would make that sort of BS illegal. If it is any consolation working for big companies that abuse the temp system is a terrible experience.
I wish I could answer, but I also do not understand hiring decisions based on a credit report. I know that its used a lot in the financial services industries, they want to run credit checks on their employees to see if they are "responsible with money". But even that is unfair because a person's ex-wife or ex-husband could have completely destroyed their credit. I know a woman who has bankrupted both of her ex-husbands due to bad spending habits.
Not much you can do though I wish they would make that sort of BS illegal. If it is any consolation working for big companies that abuse the temp system is a terrible experience.
This.
Also, if you are the temp agency's employee, not coca cola's, then why do they need a credit report on you? I once had to give out all my personal information to a temp agency's client (a big 8 accounting firm) to let them run a credit report on me. I had perfect credit. But then they declined to hire me for other reasons. It was extremely annoying that I'd given them all that personal information, then they did not want to hire me.
I think its better to A) Avoid temp agencies completely and B) find a direct hire position on your own, and then be upfront about the credit issue and see if they will overlook it, or not do a credit check at all.
I wish I could answer, but I also do not understand hiring decisions based on a credit report. I know that its used a lot in the financial services industries, they want to run credit checks on their employees to see if they are "responsible with money". But even that is unfair because a person's ex-wife or ex-husband could have completely destroyed their credit. I know a woman who has bankrupted both of her ex-husbands due to bad spending habits.
Hiring is based on bigotries that come from that miserable excuse for a profession called HR. Once they put forth that people with bad credit, introverts, the unemployed are bad employees all the companies start closing doors in peoples faces the minute one falls into one of those red flags. That is why people hate HR especially myself.
When you're ^^^ doing the hiring, you can complain about HR and "bigotries." Financial problems are a HUGE liability, and there is more to it as a qualifier than just the financial part of it. People who have financial problems as serious as a bankruptcy tend to be very distracted at work, and they often have drama follow them.
It also speaks to common sense and judgement. If I tell an employee to manage the company's money like they would manage their own, why would I want someone who's been bankrupt?
Like it or not, it is a huge liability.
OP, if you are applying at a place you KNOW does background checks, tell them on the front end of the interview process.
Also, if you are the temp agency's employee, not coca cola's, then why do they need a credit report on you? I once had to give out all my personal information to a temp agency's client (a big 8 accounting firm) to let them run a credit report on me. I had perfect credit. But then they declined to hire me for other reasons. It was extremely annoying that I'd given them all that personal information, then they did not want to hire me.
I think its better to A) Avoid temp agencies completely and B) find a direct hire position on your own, and then be upfront about the credit issue and see if they will overlook it, or not do a credit check at all.
After this fiasco, I was lucky enough to get some interviews lined up with local colleges. I know they will do a credit check as part of the offer if it reaches this point. Hopefully they will at least give me the opportunity to explain the credit issue if it reaches the offer stage. You are absolutely right about steering clear of temp agencies. I guess desperation sat in after the long bout with unemployment. I take it as I was saved from a potentially toxic environment. Oh well, back to the drawing board I go.
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