i for one...would hope not. i could see some employers maybe making some kind of connection between your workplace reliability and your credit score.

but i can't speak from the perspective of someone doing the hiring.

while one could draw a connection, there are many things that can affect a credit score that have nothing to do with being a qualified, reliable candidate for a potential job.

how and why would an employer know about your credit??

Kinda makes it really hard for most Americans, not to mention Architects, to get those jobs.

Sounds like a no-fun place to work - go find some billionaire client who inherited his money. Rappers, or athletes will work well, too - they'll pay you a lot & you'll get some great fringe benefits like a Playboy Club card, or something.

Hey slantsix, WhatchU got? A valiant? A Duster? A B'Cuda?

as a matter of practice, our firm never asks such questions of candidates we're considering. at a surface level, it does seem irrelevant.

however, I will say that we've had employees in the past who - we discovered after the fact - had horrible credit histories. those problems tended to follow these folks to the office -- in some cases creditors would pester them with collection calls throughout the day and keep them in a fairly constant state of anxiety. we were constantly being bombarded with requests for salary advances (which we don't do) and fairly often found these folks missing work to deal with such things as the gas company turning off their service. these specific people didn't tend to remain with us for very long, mostly because their work suffered.

so, if you do have a bad credit history and find a good situation with a firm, my advice is to do whatever it takes to keep that problem totally and 100% separate from your daily work routine. never, ever, allow your personal problems to have a negative impact on your work or your relationship to the firm

good luck.

slantsix: many employers pull credit reports on prospective employees. It's legal and not unusual - supposedly more than a third of all employers do this - though I think it happens less in architecture than in fields where most companies are larger. If a company uses the information against you - for instance they decide not to hire you or not to promote you based on that information - then they are supposed to inform you that it was a credit-based negative decision.

The biggest reason that firms do credit checks is actually to verify social security numbers. But some employers believe that bad credit is more likely to correlate with unreliability, job-hopping, employee theft, and other undesirable traits, though as I understand it there's no real statistical proof of that.

Credit reports can be used as a factor in granting security clearances, so if a firm does certain types of government projects, institutional, or even some types of commercial work (some types of labs, for example) clients will sometimes run background checks on everybody involved in a project. A potential employer who does those types of work may want to run a credit check and other background checks before hiring.

it makes sense from a retention POV

i'm just pissed that my credit rating goes down when it gets checked

There's a rumor out there that your credit score is also going correlate to your health insurance premium too. The lower the score the higher your rates will be. Kind of ironic considering a good percentage of people who have financial issues have them b/c of of extraordinary medical bills.

Antishtenes: when a potential employer pulls your credit report, that's a "soft pull" - meaning that it does not affect your credit score. It also doesn't show up on your report when anybody else pulls your report - except when you pull your own report.
Only "hard pulls" affect your credit score, and those are only done by people/companies looking at your credit for purposes of approving you for credit (credit card companies offering you new cards, or considering credit increases that YOU requested, mortgage lenders, utility companies determining whether to require a deposit from you, etc.)

tunamelt: that rumor has some truth to it. Fair Isaac (generator of FICO scores) admitted some time ago that it was creating a so-called "MedFICO" score system. They were collecting data from hospitals nationwide to determine individuals' past medical bill-paying patterns, in order to develop a score that would indicate one's likelihood to pay for medical expenses.
They have claimed that this does NOT include the information on creditors and accounts that is included in a regular FICO score, and also that it would not be available for medical professionals to see until AFTER a person had received initial treatment...
The main concern is that this score could result in denial of care - for instance a hospitalization could be denied based on failure to pay previous medical bills.

Bloopox ... that's some very useful information you're handing out there ... especially the distinction between a "soft pull" and a "hard pull" ... thanks.

it might be nice to know if i was hiring an accountant, but not an architect.

In fact i'd probably look for the opposite in an architect.

I got hired based on my street cred

WORD

thanks for the input

Can potential employers pull credit ratings (in the US) without your written consent? Employers here can do it with employee consent, apparently, although I've never been asked (my girlfriend has been asked twice).

I imagine that if you refused, you wouldn't get the job. I understand that if you're in a position to deal with money or accounting.... but for an architect? Bizarre.

In the US, if a potential employer contracts to a third party to do their credit or background checks then the employer has to get written consent from you BEFORE they check your credit.
But if the employer does their own checking (which is possible just by paying a fee to any of a number of services that allow access to the same databases that the 3rd-party background checkers use) then the employer only needs verbal consent OR they can choose just to include notification (for instance on a job application, in an employee handbook, etc.) that they reserve the right to do this.

Often there is language in the fine print of job application paperwork - especially forms submitted online - that basically gives the employer blanket permission to check into virtually anything (so watch what you click "ok", "agree", or "approve" to, as that constitutes "written consent"!)

The employer only needs to get consent once, and then can continue to pull ratings throughout your employment there ever asking or informing you again.
Once they have your consent they don't actually have to tell you whether or not they did check your credit - unless they make negative decisions that are specifically the result of your credit.

Employers do NOT need consent only in situations where they suspect the employee of misconduct or illegal activity, of some type that could be corroborated by a credit report.

so basically if you refuse to fill out the background check then basically you are screwed from that job i would guess....... what is there to check when it comes to autocad/design......

reason being is that i wouldnt/dont feel comfortable filling out forms that have more info needed to process...i.e. personal info/numbers/etc....

i feel that the resume and portfolio is enough....maybe having to sign a confidential agreement i can see.......

how much checking is just over board..... and how much do the places really need to know...... it's just a job........ if you can show you can do the work then whats the real issue......

why the hell would you want to work for them. tell them you are gonna pull their credit report to see if their checks are good. to see if they pay their bills. and also tell them you are gonna check with to see whether they've been fined for any unethical practices etc. just for fun.

reason being is that......

i get a phone call............
them=hey, we need you to work on this project asap
me= ok, i can start asap
them= fill out this app and background check
me=filled out the app and then said that i'll fill out the background after i get the offerletter
them=well, we need the background check
me=ok...so i send it in the next day
them= putting me on hold and saying they'll call later ...only not to receive a call....
me=ummm... it's been over a month.... all i need is a yes or no so i can search/find other work.


i'm over it though....just urks me that a simple phone is too damn hard to do especially when they "needed" me for the position....hmmm


i dont like to burn bridges either.........


you think a simple call stating...."is the postion still open and if so can i can a yes or no if i can fill it?"..... would that sound like being an ass?


hurry up and wait...


or am i just over reacting?

My guess is that their stalling has nothing to do with your background check.

They've probably had something happen with their project load, and are re-thinking whether they need anybody else right now. Or they may have met another candidate that seems like an equally good fit and they can't make up their mind as to which of your they want (or both of you.) They're probably stalling because they don't want to commit to saying yes or no right now.
That's the usual reason, though I'm not condoning it.

A wait of a couple months or more is not an unusual time period for hiring decisions, especially in the type of larger, policy-laden firm that typically runs background checks in the first place. They may need to take your application through various regularly-scheduled partners' meetings, etc.

If you really want or need this job then call and email one more time each, explaining that you are very interested in the position but are concerned that you might miss this opportunity because you'll have to look elsewhere soon.

If they still don't answer within a week then look elsewhere.

thanks for the "other view".....

guess i was under the impression that i would start asap since it seemed "urgent"...

i'll just let it go for a few and let time work it's path......

gotta breathe a little these days.....

i'm w/ Vado - Ask for their credit & check other aspects of their biz. Pulling credit to hire an employee is a red flag that an employer is going to play hard ball with you, not just in the hiring process, either. Do you really want that?

...burn that bridge.