Background Credit Checks for employment

[TheJosACast]

I recently was offered a job. I submitted permission for a background check that includes a credit check. I have less than perfect credit. I want to know if recently in the past year or so if nurses have been denied a job due to credit history?

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Not unless you are taking a job that will have you working with money. Usually the background/credit check looks for criminal behavior. I have not heard of anyone being denied a position due to imperfect credit.

[Flatline, BSN, RN]

I know nurses who have been denied positions for poor credit if they will be working with prisoners or other legal detainees.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Some corporate owned facilities run credit checks to assess the applicant's overall stability.

If someone has bad credit, it most likely means they cannot handle their personal finances.

If they can't handle their personal issues, they might not be able to handle work issues.

Less than perfect credit should be okay.

[caliotter3]

I have read at more than one source that the primary reason for the credit check is to verify addresses. When I posed this question to an employer one time, I was told that each case is looked at as an individual situation and employment is not necessarily denied. Whatever the circumstances, you still have to agree to the check if you want the job, so all a person can do is to authorize it and then hold their breath. I'm more concerned that if denied employment, the information is out there to be a matter of gossip on the grapevine (for those employers where there is not strict confidentiality in a HR function). Word travels fast in the nursing community.

[TheJosACast]

We shall see what happens. That's my waiting game right now. This will be the slowest week ever.

[TheJosACast]

After so many grueling days. I received my post offer appointment. Will be signing my contract in the coming days. Yay!

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

The Boston Globe ran a story years ago about an unemployed woman who had been denied multiple jobs because someone with the same name, but a different middle initial, had very bad credit.

Credit checks for non-financial jobs are illegal in some places. It really shouldn't matter if your job doesn't involve finance or some type of security clearance.