Angry Bean Blog

We have all been on one too many job interviews where the standard questions are always asked.  It is so redundant that I am sure many of you know those questions by heart and have prepared answers prior to the interview.  For questions like; What are your Strengths and Weaknesses? What is your greatest achievement? What would you do if you knew a co-worker was stealing? And the most stupid question of them all, Why do you want to work here? I always rehearse the last one before the interview.  In all honestly I wish I could respond to that question with, “I don’t want to work here or anywhere for that matter. I am applying here because I am not independently wealthy and have no choice but to work. And you happen to be hiring so here I am”. I wonder if that would be refreshing to some interviewers?I personally do not think that any of those questions paint an accurate picture of the person you are, nor your job capability. Honestly, it really shows how creative you are as a liar. There are some exceptions of course. When I recently found out that a credit check is becoming a standard in the hiring process,  my first thought was wow, another useless costly tool like the standard job interview. I suppose some experts decided that this would help prevent the hiring of people who may mismanage, or steal company funds. I can see how this may work sometimes. I also can see many of qualified people who may have poor credit being denied jobs that they need and deserve.

Myself and many others have extenuating circumstances that have occured in their life that they had very little control over effect their credit negatively. For most (and myself, he is an ex. ) being married to an insanely irresponsible partner will put your credit in the toilet.  Also think of it this way, what one may do with money they earn can be totally opposite of what they would do with company funds or property. I know I work very hard and I have been known to treat myself to clothes or shoes and let a bill go a little late. It is frustrating for many to work and have to take that money and spend it on bills and groceries every month and not get any enjoyment from the  money you earned.

I work for a very wealthy man and often have to deal with his money on a daily basis. I would rather shoot myself  in the foot before I mismanaged his money. I respect him and enjoy working for him. So, in turn if my employer was to run a credit check on myself  he may believe that I don’t know how to handle money and may cause harm to his finances. He certainly knows that I would not now because I have been working for him for nearly a year and through my consistent honest work ethic I am valued and trusted.

In the future I do not want to be judged based on a credit report and no one should be.  I prefer criminal background checks as a better way to make a hiring decision. Criminal background checks should also be judged on the nature of the crime as well as frequency of crimes and length of time since last crime. I know people make mistakes and need someone to give them a second chance. I am also a fan of contacting previous employers but one must remain objective when gathering informaiton form previous employers as well. There are ways to obtain hard working and honest employees with out credit checks or asking them mundane questions. I know I have done my share of hiring.