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The point is to ask the candidate about the low score, not to immediately disqualify him for it. Again, this is no different than being asked to explain a 2.5 G

The point is to ask the candidate about the low score, not to immediately disqualify him for it. Again, this is no different than being asked to explain a 2.5 GPA, or a horrible review from a former manager. Now you have to recant a number of highly unpleasant issues with your past boss in an attempt to illustrate why it wasn't your fault. In short, all three examples are likely to take one into personal territory, yet we are choosing credit as the one to fight about. My explanation of that phenomenon can be found above.

mazelife 15y ago
I certainly didn't take you to be suggesting not to hire the candidate based on their credit score, I'm saying it would make me uncomfortable to force them in to disclosing explanations for it in the first place because those reasons quite likely have nothing to do with how good of a candidate they are. What I was saying is that you might lose some good developers because they don't want to work for a company that would make such a request. Anyway, I see your point, but this is where we part ways because I think that being asked to explain a 2.5 GPA or a horrible review from a former manager are materially different than being asked to explain a low credit score. Sometimes folks' personal and professional lives intersect in ways that require them to disclose more than they might want to to explain that bad GPA or bad review; that's unfortunate. But unlike GPA or a reference check, there is no "professional" component to your credit score that necessitates such disclosure, just as there is no professional component to one's religious affiliation or marital status. That the first of those things is sometimes legal to ask about (check your state's laws) and the rest are not doesn't make it OK. Anyway, I think we at least see where our disagreement lies; I take your point, but I just don't see a credit score in the same light.
tptacek 15y ago
Actually, I don't think the best dev shops ask GPA either.

mazelife 15y ago

I certainly didn't take you to be suggesting not to hire the candidate based on their credit score, I'm saying it would make me uncomfortable to force them in to disclosing explanations for it in the first place because those reasons quite likely have nothing to do with how good of a candidate they are. What I was saying is that you might lose some good developers because they don't want to work for a company that would make such a request. Anyway, I see your point, but this is where we part ways because I think that being asked to explain a 2.5 GPA or a horrible review from a former manager are materially different than being asked to explain a low credit score. Sometimes folks' personal and professional lives intersect in ways that require them to disclose more than they might want to to explain that bad GPA or bad review; that's unfortunate. But unlike GPA or a reference check, there is no "professional" component to your credit score that necessitates such disclosure, just as there is no professional component to one's religious affiliation or marital status. That the first of those things is sometimes legal to ask about (check your state's laws) and the rest are not doesn't make it OK. Anyway, I think we at least see where our disagreement lies; I take your point, but I just don't see a credit score in the same light.

tptacek 15y ago

Actually, I don't think the best dev shops ask GPA either.