Updated 12/31/2009 05:00 AM
Your Career: Credit reports play important role for employers
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Whether you are applying for a job in person or online, you've probably noticed they often ask your permission to do a background check and credit report.
"It depends upon the nature of the work. If you are working in finance or accounting of course they want to know you are fiscally responsible. If you are working up to management and will keep budgets I think they will be curious about how you keep your own budget. Also that everything you've done is legal and above board," said Lynn Berger, a career counselor and coach at LynnBerger.com.
Some consumer groups say one in five credit reports contain factual errors. So before someone else's mistake sinks your job, get to your credit report, check for errors and dispute anything wrong.
While you certainly need your credit report, the good news is you don't need to pay for it.
"The commission is getting complaints from consumers who were promised a free report and found out they only got the report if they signed up for some other service," said Len Gordon, Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC recently released its own TV commercial spoof of the for-profit sites to tell consumers not to waste money.
If you are job hunting, you don't have time or money to waste. Correct your credit report as soon as possible and remember the only place to get one absolutely free is annualcreditreport.com.