Looking at sample work is definitely a good idea. But I'd disagree with pretty strenuously with both credit score and IQ and would walk away immediately if a po

Looking at sample work is definitely a good idea. But I'd disagree with pretty strenuously with both credit score and IQ and would walk away immediately if a potential employer asked for these. Re credit score: In the US this appears to be legal in some states, illegal in others, so as an employer I'd investigate carefully before asking asking for a credit dscore. But outside of of a banking industry job or a situation where one is attempting to obtain security clearance, this is pretty egregious. Plenty of families have had their credit wrecked by the recession and there are lots of reasons (e.g. unforeseen medical problems) that could result in a lowered score that have no predictive value whatsoever. So, even if what you're doing is legal in your locality, it's morally dubious outside of a certain types of jobs. Finally, it looks like this can cut both ways: "If you do agree to let [a prospective employer] see the report, and they base their decision not to hire you on something in it, you have the right under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to see it, says EFL’s Meschke. This will give you an opportunity to try to explain or rectify any issues or errors that may be on there." (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31923358/ns/business-careers/t/can-employer-ask-my-credit-report/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31923358/ns/business-careers/t/c...) As for IQ, there is literature out there on this subject (http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/merrill-palmer_quarterly/v047/47.1sternberg.pdf http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/merrill-palmer_quarterly/v047/4...). It's not that it has _no_ predictive value, but that there are a lot of confounding factors (e.g. the country you were raised in). Furthermore results need to be interpreted very carefully and I don't necessarily trust an employer to do that. I think a lot of people would rightfully see this is intrusive. Having interviewed a fair number of job candidates in my time, I agree it's hard and there is definitely an art to it. But if someone can't get a accurate assessment of a candidate through sample work and direct interaction, and have to resort to things like credit score and IQ to help them decide, then they have no business interviewing candidates.