Job hunting is a very challenging phase in one’s life. If you are passing through this phase you must be busy scanning job sites and applying to various jobs. Revamping your resume and preparing for interviews would be on the top of your mind. But amidst all these important things, are you missing out on a key aspectthat affects your job prospects? Did you bother to look at your financial report card? Did you check your CIBIL score and credit report? Did you find out how to increase CIBIL points?

CIBIL score is a numeric score between 300 and 900 that is assigned to you by the credit bureau based on your credit history. CIBIL collects and maintains a repository of this information from lenders and financial institutions. It uses various analytical algorithms to summarize it and come out with a CIBIL score.

Does my employer check my CIBIL score?

If you thought that banks and financial institutions were the only ones who checked your credit historiesyou were wrong. Many companies these days are going in for a thorough financial check before taking people on board. They require all their prospective candidates to submit the CIBIL score and credit information report.

Do you want a bad credit score to be a reason behind a job rejection? No, right.So it is imperative that apart from researching on how to do well in interviews, you should spend some time in finding out how to boost your credit score.

Internationally, checking the credit score before employing a person is a standard practice. Now, a similar evolution is happening in India. This is especially true with companies in the Finance and Software sector. So if you are applying for senior level executive positions, or positions which require you to handle financial responsibilities chances are that your prospective employer will check your credit worthiness before making a hiring decision.

Another two years down the line,checking CIBIL score before hiring will be a widespread practice across all positions and sectors.Hence credit reports have entered our lives in a big way. It calls for your attention not only when you wish to avail credit facilities but also when you are hunting for your dream job.So start thinking about how to boost your credit score.

What will my CIBIL score tell my employer?

Companies want trustworthy and dependable employees who can fulfil their commitments and manage their time well. A quick peek into the CIBIL report tells them a lot about these attributes. They see the CIBIL score as an indicator of an individual’s self-discipline, honesty and personal integrity.It gives them a fair idea of the risk associated with hiring a person.

Just like no employer wants to hire a person with a past criminal record, even having a bad credit score is seen in the same light.Employers avoid hiring people who have shown an irresponsible behaviour with respect to their own finances. A bad CIBIL score gives an impression that the candidate is not a credible person to work with.

So if you haven’t checked your credit score before do it now. In case you have a poor score it’s time to find out how to boost your credit score?

Will I know if my employer has checked my CIBIL score?

According to the RBI guidelines CIBIL can share the credit report only with banks and financial institutions. Hence employers cannot directly access an applicant’s credit report from CIBIL. They ask the candidates to request for the report themselves and submit it to them. So only employers to whom you yourself submit the CIBIL score and CIBIL report will have access to it.

What should be my plan of action?

If you have an interview scheduled very soon, it is advisable tocheck your report yourself. It is better to see where you stand, so that you can mend your actions in time rather than paying for these mistakes later on.

Check your credit report for any discrepancies which maybe bringing your score down. Initiate an action with the bureau and get them resolved. In case you have some negative information on the report which is correct, think of an appropriate explanation you will give to your employer.

If your scores are not too impressive there are ways you can recover from a bad score. Accessing your report beforehand gives you enough time to think how to boost your credit score.By doing so you can not only improve your employment prospects but also get your financial life back on track.

'Written by Arun Ramamurthy, Director, Credit Sudhaar & author of Unlock the Power of Your Credit Score: India’s first book on Credit Scores'