What is HR Doing with My Personal Info??

[oldtoyota]

I am looking for a job. I have an interview and the company wants me to bring a completed application form to the interview along with a form that allows them to do a credit check on me. Note that this is before I have met them and before I know if I want the job or if they want me.

Why? And is this reasonable?

I don't want to give them permission to poke into my background before I know if I even want the job...

[Jags4186]

My company does the same. The reasoning is if you have lots of debt/bad credit your more likely to steal. I think it's fairly normal.


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[Paul der Krake]

Maybe they expect you to be handed a job offer right on the same day of the interview?

I wouldn't give them until you have a job offer in hand.

[oldtoyota]

Maybe they expect you to be handed a job offer right on the same day of the interview?

I wouldn't give them until you have a job offer in hand.

Thanks. Do you think it would work if I took the forms--and maybe even filled them out--and then said I'd be happy to provide them if we both want to move forward?

[G-dog]

I think there is some data that suggests that your credit history is correlated with your job performance. But, in HR, 0.4 - 0.5 is considered a good correlation!  It is a proxy for reliability / responsibility. I don't think that this is used to infer who is more likely to steal.
Some places make you take tests. Others, as you have noted, want to do drug testing. Some do criminal background checks.  All of these are pretty common now.
I think it is fair for you to say that you will provide the information if you get an offer. But that may impact your chance of getting an offer. I think it is fair to say that with all the problems with data security and data privacy, you want to make sure that this check is warranted.
Very few job offers the day of the interview (my opinion, no data).

[oldtoyota]

Very few job offers the day of the interview (my opinion, no data).

It's interesting that the other poster brought up getting an offer the day of the interview. The Glass Door reviews for this company mention that the candidates (more than one, I think) felt pressured into taking the job right away and then got fired later because priorities changed or the project disappeared.

The company seems to have a history of hiring and firing pretty based on changing projects, so that adds to my reluctance. In addition, they sent me an org chart and did not even bother to remove the person they probably fired…It all gives me a weird feeling. Why send an org chart without updating it?

I might cancel the interview. I have a good spidey sense sometimes.

[Paul der Krake]

Maybe they expect you to be handed a job offer right on the same day of the interview?

I wouldn't give them until you have a job offer in hand.

Thanks. Do you think it would work if I took the forms--and maybe even filled them out--and then said I'd be happy to provide them if we both want to move forward?

That sounds like a good diplomatic way of doing it. It's very strange that they would ask for it now, but maybe nobody has complained about it until then? Or maybe they just don't care about turning off valuable potential employees who happen to give a damn about privacy. Either way, major red flag.

For what it's worth, I work for an uber-paranoid company (for good reasons) that subjected me to drug testing, fingerprint with FBI background check, credit check, elaborate immigration status checks, and pretty much flat out refuses to hire you if you've ever declared bankruptcy. But none of that was required until after the interview and offer.

It's already bad enough that employers don't tell you how your personal information is being guarded- newsflash, a statistically significant number of you probably has their info floating on some HR lady's personal laptop where her teenage kid downloads Rihanna-XKLusive-nudes.exe from ThePirateBay- don't let a company you may not even work for get a hold of it. So everyone please, if you have some choice in your employment options, do not cave in and let employers get away with crap like this.

[G-dog]

Very few job offers the day of the interview (my opinion, no data).

It's interesting that the other poster brought up getting an offer the day of the interview. The Glass Door reviews for this company mention that the candidates (more than one, I think) felt pressured into taking the job right away and then got fired later because priorities changed or the project disappeared.

The company seems to have a history of hiring and firing pretty based on changing projects, so that adds to my reluctance. In addition, they sent me an org chart and did not even bother to remove the person they probably fired…It all gives me a weird feeling. Why send an org chart without updating it?

I might cancel the interview. I have a good spidey sense sometimes.

I have been at my company for 19 years now, they are very slow re:job offers (as I've observed as we interview new folks).  But this may be an anomaly - Paul may be right, seems to fit with what you have seen a line.
If you are taking time away from someplace else, you can cancel (prioritize time).  But I think there is value in using this as a "practice" interview, especially if you haven't been job hunting for a while.
Good luck on the job search! Don't ignore your spidery senses.

[oldtoyota]

Very few job offers the day of the interview (my opinion, no data).

It's interesting that the other poster brought up getting an offer the day of the interview. The Glass Door reviews for this company mention that the candidates (more than one, I think) felt pressured into taking the job right away and then got fired later because priorities changed or the project disappeared.

The company seems to have a history of hiring and firing pretty based on changing projects, so that adds to my reluctance. In addition, they sent me an org chart and did not even bother to remove the person they probably fired…It all gives me a weird feeling. Why send an org chart without updating it?

I might cancel the interview. I have a good spidey sense sometimes.

I have been at my company for 19 years now, they are very slow re:job offers (as I've observed as we interview new folks).  But this may be an anomaly - Paul may be right, seems to fit with what you have seen a line.
If you are taking time away from someplace else, you can cancel (prioritize time).  But I think there is value in using this as a "practice" interview, especially if you haven't been job hunting for a while.
Good luck on the job search! Don't ignore your spidery senses.

This is a good point too. It would not hurt to practice. Since I currently don't want this job, I lose nothing by politely putting them off on hand over an application and permission to poke into my history.

When I think more about this, I realize the huge employers get this information from you via an online form. One generally must click a box to give them permission to do a background investigation…and this is done as you apply and before anyone is even interested in you! So odd.