Posted: 19 Oct 2010 02:35 AM PDT

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Poor Credit Can Hurt Job-Hunters - The Ledger

Posted: 18 Oct 2010 02:22 AM PDT

Published: Sunday, October 17, 2010 at 12:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, October 15, 2010 at 5:28 p.m.

Watch TV for long and you'll see a commercial about the importance of monitoring your credit number.

Job hunters, pay attention. Nearly half of employers say they include consumer credit checks in some of their pre-employment investigations.

According to congressional testimony last month by the Society for Human Resource Management, credit checks are a useful tool to "assess the skills, abilities, work habits and integrity of potential hires."

That stance understandably grates on job hunters whose credit ratings have fallen not because they were perennial bad money managers, but because they didn't have paychecks for a long time.

According to the society, only 20 percent of employers conduct credit checks on all applicants, but those that use them believe they're worthwhile insights into candidates' qualifications.

A bill in the U.S. House would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to ban the use of credit checks on prospective and current employees for employment purposes, with some notable exceptions.

The Equal Employment for All Act would prohibit such use of credit information except for jobs that require national security or Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. clearance, for state or local government agencies that require the use of consumer reports, or for supervisory or professional positions at financial institutions.

The Society for Human Resource Management said 57 percent of employers who do credit checks do them only after contingent offers, while 30 percent do them after job interviews.

Most employers said they would look at the past four to seven years of a credit history.

The Fair Credit act already requires employers to inform applicants if a credit-related issue caused them to be rejected from consideration.

Sixty-five percent of employers in a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management said they allow job candidates to explain their credit results before the hiring decision is made. About 22 percent said they allow explanations after the hiring decision is made.

FYI: Illinois, Oregon, Hawaii and Washington have passed laws to prevent employers from using credit checks as a filter in hiring decisions.

[ Diane Stafford is the workplace and careers columnist at The Kansas City Star. ]

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Get to Know June Bozeman: Career satisfaction comes from serving customers - Everything Alabama Blog

Posted: 20 Oct 2010 07:06 AM PDT

Published: Wednesday, October 20, 2010, 9:03 AM

DAPHNE, Alabama -- From the start of her career, Mobile native June Bozeman enjoyed working with businesses and helping business owners improve their processes.

After graduating from Davidson High School, she studied accounting at Faulkner State Community College and worked in that field for many years.
"I started as an assistant and worked my way up to comptroller of several small businesses," she said. "I ran entire accounting departments in different locations."

Her last accounting position was with Olds Filtration Engineering in Daphne and in that job she became acquainted with Aflac supplemental insurance.

"I had brought Aflac to that business and then I started talking to our representative," she said. "He convinced me to try doing that, and I stepped out from there."

Moving from accounting to sales was a big step for Bozeman, but she was ultimately happy with the move.

"It was a huge leap for me — the scariest leap I've ever made professionally," she said. "I've never prayed so much in my life, but it was the greatest decision I've ever made."
As an independent Aflac representative, Bozeman works with businesses all over Baldwin County and five years ago, she was appointed district manager in Daphne.

"Aflac is what really was my heart," she said. "I had a passion for it, but a year ago, I had to take a break from management. I've gone back to being just an agent with them."

She also picked up a new business venture, Nationwide Payment Solutions, a credit card processing service she came across through business networking.

"It's not something I normally do, but this is a really great company," Bozeman said. "It had the same feel as Aflac did to me."

Customer service is important to the independent agent, and Bozeman said her new venture filled the bill.

"It's run like a family business and they care about their merchants and what happens to them," she said. "If one of my clients has a problem and calls in, I get an e-mail that it happened and I can call and follow up or let it go if the situation was resolved."
After a year with that company, she's very happy with the business and is happy to share it with her Aflac clients.

"I don't do cold calling with (Nationwide). I market it as something good for my current clients if they want to branch out," she said. "I work mostly on referral because I like working with people I know or with people recommended by someone I know."
The new work also fulfils her love of helping business owners improve their work.

"I believe more in educating the business owners," she said. "I'll go over their (credit card processing) statements with them and analyze them. I'll help them understand it and save money."

And when she's not out and about meeting new clients and working with existing ones, Bozeman said she enjoys socializing and networking with local business groups.

"I'm a member of two Mardi Gras krewes, and I'm in the Eastern Shore Business Alliance," she said. "I love to exercise, and spending time with my two gorgeous grandchildren."

Birthplace: Mobile

Hometown: Daphne

Family: Daughter, Mandi Chadwell; two grandchildren

Occupation: Independent representative

Activities: Exercise, civic involvement

---Leigh T. Moore, Correspondent