SSN for Job Applications

 

More and more people are asking for your social security number when
you fill out a job application. I always decline and write "upon hire"
instead.

I remember in the 80's and early 90's that the SSN was only given
after you were hired to prove that you could work in the USA (of
course other forms of ID could be used instead). I believe it's
illegal to ask for the SSN on a job application - what use is it? A
job application is not a credit check, which supposedly safeguards
sensitive info such as SSNs. A job application is just a sheet of
paper anyone can get their hands on. I don't trust giving out my SSN
to just anyone for no reason.

Of course all the jobs where I declined to give my SSN I was not hired
for. Could be a coincidence, or not.

 

On 8/11/2010 9:19 AM, Napoleon wrote:

Some employers are now checking your credit status before they hire.

Marsha

 




Employers have been doing credit checks for years.  It is just recently that
some states are trying to pass laws to make credit checks illegal as a
condition of hiring because of the mess the economy is in.  Too many people
have been caught in the vicious cycle of being downsized because of the bad
economy, making it kind of tough to meet one's financial obligations, which
in turn can lead to a bad credit rating--making it MORE difficult to get a
job in a shrinking market, continuing right into a downward spiral that one
might never recover from.

 

On 8/11/2010 7:52 PM, Annie Woughman wrote:

Then these states should also make it illegal to do a credit check by
insurance companies before they accept you or quote you a premium?

Marsha

 




That would make sense too, however, I haven't heard anything about that in
the proposed laws.  Insurance rates should be based on one's driving record,
not their credit rating.  This is another hardship placed on those that
through no fault of their own are facing financial disaster--higher
insurance premiums.