Lewis Maltby
National Workrights Institute
Every year, thousands of Americans lose new jobs they’ve worked hard to earn before they even start. They fall victim to pre-employment credit checks, drug tests, criminal record checks, personality tests, and social media monitoring.
Fortunately, all these traps can be avoided if you know how.
Credit Checks
Half of all employers (51%) conduct credit checks of prospective employees. This is not limited to jobs involving financial responsibility.
Unfortunately, credit reports contain mistakes. A study by the Consumers Union found that 44% of credit reports contain errors.
The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires employers to inform applicants before they take negative action based on a credit report. Unfortunately, the law does not require employers to keep the position open while the applicant gets the report corrected, and employers don’t wait.
To be safe, get a copy of your credit report when you start your job search. You can get a copy at:
Freecreditcheck.com
If you see any mistakes on the report, follow the instructions to get them fixed. The process is intentionally slow and time-consuming. But if you stick with the process, the mistakes will be fixed.
If the negative information on your report is correct, be prepared to explain what happened to prospective employers. If you were overwhelmed by medical expenses or temporary unemployment, tell the HR professional about it when applying for a new job, hopefully pointing out that this was a temporary situation.
Drug Tests
Many people believe that because marijuana is now legal in their state, employers won’t hold a positive test for marijuana against them. Nothing could be further from the truth. HR professionals who smoke pot themselves don’t think twice before throwing your offer letter in the wastebasket over a positive marijuana test.
This problem, too, can be avoided by advance planning. Marijuana only stays in your system for a few days. If you switch from marijuana to beer when you’re offered an interview, by the time the hiring process is complete you’ll pass the drug test.
A few employers (7%) test hair instead of urine. Unlike urine, marijuana stays in your hair forever. The standard hair test detects drug use for 90 days. If you want to be completely safe, stop using pot when you start your job search.
Do not try to cheat. The scientists who design the program are aware of every form of cheating and have designed the test to detect it.
Criminal Record Checks
Most employers perform criminal record checks on prospective employees.
The days when a single arrest was an automatic rejection are largely behind us.
But any prior conviction can be a problem. As with credit, start by making sure your record is accurate. Run a criminal record check on yourself. Use a member of the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA) that has met their accreditation standards.
If the report contains an incorrect statement about your criminal history, call it to their attention. They might be able to get the mistake corrected. If not, you may have to hire an attorney to do it. It’s not extremely expensive and you can’t afford not to do it.
It’s also possible that the report will contain information about situations in which you were arrested, but not convicted. You should be eligible to have these items expunged. Try contacting the courthouse yourself. If that doesn’t work, get a lawyer. Ask them for a flat fee.
If the record is accurate, prepare to explain what led you to do what resulted in your conviction and how your life has changed since then.
If you have multiple convictions, especially for felonies, look at companies that have made a public commitment to giving people with records a second chance. You can find a list of such companies at:
Secondchancebusinesscoalition.org
If you have a criminal record, don’t lie about it. Criminal records are computerized and a competent background checker can find an offense that occurred in another state many years ago. Not being honest guarantees you won’t be hired. An employer who might have overlooked a minor conviction will automatically reject your application if they catch you lying about it.
Personality Tests
The majority of Fortune 500 companies (and many smaller one) use personality tests for a as a pre-employment screen. Some tests, are highly invasive and contain questions about religious beliefs, sexual practices, and even bathroom habits. Worse yet, the wrong answers can cost you the job.
These tests apparently look for people with psychological issues that might make them problematic employees. This can be a trap for people who are too candid. It’s ok to pray, but if you say God talks to you, the test thinks you’re delusional. Many of us sometimes wonder what’s the point of it all. But if you say “sometimes I think life is not worth living” you look suicidal. Try to give honest answers that aren’t too extreme.
Social Media
According to Career Builder, at least 70% of employers conduct social media checks of applicants.
One purpose is to confirm statements on your application about education and work history. Traditionally, applicants could do a little “puffing” in their resume. Today, such statements are likely to be caught. Employers are very concerned about any dishonesty on the part of applicants and getting caught exaggerating will cost you’re the job.
But social media can also cost you the job even if you’ve been scrupulously honest. You might think that HR professionals would know that your political views and social behavior have nothing to do with your qualifications and ignore them.
Sadly, this is not the case. HR professionals frequently don’t distinguish between what offends them personally and what’s job related. People have lost jobs because of their views on the Iraq war, religion, and many other controversial subjects.
The key to avoiding this trap is to avoid making controversial statements publicly. If you want to express your political opinions, do it in an email or post it on Facebook for “friends only”.
Conclusion
Pre-employment screens truly are a minefield that can cause even the most qualified person to lose a job opportunity.
But by knowing how the minefield works, and taking the right steps, you can navigate it safely and keep your new job.