Comments for Marie's blog

Comment on Your Credit Score by Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:43:00 +0000

Target does not check credit scores. However I interviewed for a Comcast Internship a few years ago and they did check my credit score. I was pretty surprised by this and wondered why it mattered. I agree with Dave in that it really shouldn’t be a reason why someone doesnt get hired. There are too many unusual circumstances, stolen identity cases and all sorts of other issues that could happen.

Comment on Volunteer + Pot + Feeding Grizzly Bears = No good by Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:52:16 +0000

How could I not read this with a title like that… but unbelievably I have hear this story. I don’t remember where, but I had heard it.

The story is outrageous, but when you evaluate each part of the court’s decision you can understand it, at least I can. Just think of all the payroll taxes that were avoided by paying the “volunteers” cash.

Having said that, will anyone truely ever know if the “volunteers” actions while high contributed to the bear turning on him, probably not. His physical injuries are hopefully enough to make him see the error of his ways.

Comment on Volunteer + Pot + Feeding Grizzly Bears = No good by Josh

Josh — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:25:25 +0000

That is pretty funny. I heard something similar that if a burgular were to break into your house and accidentally cut himself on a kitchen knife that he could actually sue you! Perhaps its just a old wive’s tale or perhaps not…

Comment on Your Credit Score by Dave Hollander

Dave Hollander — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:42:54 +0000

I have never gone through a job interview and had my credit checked. I agree with what Michael said that it could be a good indication of how an employee handles personal situations. I do not think that a credit score should be a reason for someone not to get a job. I have heard too many stories of people getting into bad situations because of id theft or issues out of their control and do not think that it should be held against someone.

Comment on Your Credit Score by Michael Rivera

Michael Rivera — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:21:44 +0000

We do not do credit checks as a part of the application process. In a prior job at a bank though everyone had a credit report run on them as part of the process. This is due to the fact that they are handling large sums of money. As Andrea said, those who have credit issues may be a higher risk of improper doings. Many companies run credit checks because they feel that they tell you a lot about how responsible, or not, the person is. If you pay your bills on time and make good use of your credit, they feel you will be a more responsible employee than if you don’t handle your credit properly or rack up too much debt.

I think that for some positions, especially if they handle money or have access to other peoples assets, a credit check is a good idea. If they are not handling money or do not have access to other peoples assets, I am not sure if it is needed.

I think the question really is if a credit report tells you what you think it does about someone. How correct are the assumptions you are making based on a report.

Comment on Your Credit Score by Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:33:06 +0000

Marie,

We do credit checks on certain candidates, particularly those hired for finance positions. We don’t obtain their credit score per say (at least I don’t think we do). We are also mining for indicators that the candidate is not financially sound or savy and could be a risk for a position in finance.

Taking this a step further, each of us as potential candidates in the future should be well aware of what is on our credit report (and for other reasons of course). Just this past weekend I took advantage of fairly new laws that allow each of us to obtain a free copy of our credit report from each of the three main reporting agencies once a year. It’s important that we take the time to review this info should it be used to make a hiring or other decision about us in the future.

The official website to access the free credit reports is:www.annualcreditreport.com

Comment on Unemployment Benefits Running Out by Michael Rivera

Michael Rivera — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 19:16:42 +0000

This is a very controversial topic, especially for businesses. Many employers argue that the problem is the system itself. Unemployment is for people who loose their job for no fault of their own and are currently looking for work. Yet people who are fired for lack of performance issues or attendance issues still apply and are approved for unemployment. Working with businesses on a regular basis I have heard of many instances in which employees who should not be approved unemployment are approved for it. This puts a stress on the system, and those who really should be collecting unemployment are not able to because you have so many abusers.

The worst part of it is that the PA Department of Labor and Industry denies there is a problem with the unemployment system. Until the system is fixed, it will continue to be abused. Businesses have brought this to state legislators and they are looking at what can be done to correct the problem.

There are many people that want to work and are looking for work, but it is hard for many of them to find work due to the shortage of openings. Unfortunately for these people that are deserving of unemployment they may not be able to get because of a broken system and abusers.

Comment on Unemployment Benefits Running Out by Josh

Josh — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:40:15 +0000

I feel as though it’s nice to have unemployment benefits. Think of it this way, they take this money out of your pay the entire time you are working so the benefits you are receiving are your own money. Ofcourse, in a perfect system you would only be able to collect what you put away, but we all know this isn’t the case. However, let’s change one key word to the arguement by saying that social security is the issue. We can all agree that there should be some form of social security and in that case its limited to how much you put in over your life, but there is always talk of social security running out when all of the baby boomers retire and there simply aren’t enough working Americans to support the fund. How do you feel about this?

Comment on Unemployment Benefits Running Out by Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 02:42:21 +0000

Uggh. I certainly don’t want to get too political. But I am completely against unemployment benefits. There are way too many people who abuse these priveleges. I have interviewed people who only want to work 20 hours a week so they can still collect unemployment. Not too mention the employees who call off from work so they don’t get too many hours in a week and can still collect unemployment. It’s absurd. Maybe if we pay less in taxes for these unemployment benefits then we could jump start the economy with the additional money.

Comment on Transgender in the Workplace by Dave Hollander

Dave Hollander — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:54:58 +0000

I have not encountered this before, but it is an interesting situation for a manager. I suppose you have to follow the laws, but in my opinion before even looking into the law I would say if you are presenting as a female you should be able to use the ladies room. Although I can see the other side that one might argue and if someone were to abuse this and present as another sex just to enter the other bathroom. There are current issues in magmt all around us. Many times it may not be the decision we make for a problem but how we handle the situation that may be important. It is in our best interest to do whats right even though others may not agree.