Question for those in the know:

Do airlines look at or scrutinze the financial history of potential applicants or new hires?

I'm curious how the last few years will play out on the hiring pool. Are foreclosures, defaults, or even bankruptcy's going to flag for carriers HR departments and potentially hault someones career?

No I have none not talking about me, however the last few years have been historic and I'm curious if it'll hurt guys out there that were crushed by everything. It was a discussion topic at the bar last night, and no one had any clue.

 

If the airlines find fault with one's credit report or bankruptcy's especially since what's happened over the last few years then they are being short sighted. It used to be that somebody that had bad credit or even filed a chapter 7 or 11 was considered "irresponsible" or "not trustworthy." Now? Not so much. Alot of responsible, hard working people who did NOT over extend themselves over the last few years have gotten themselves in trouble. The airlines and other HR departments need to realize that it has been a historic few years like you said.

 

Agreed, my questions is... have they ever or will they?

 

It depends. If they have enough applicants with good credit, they will probably just take them first...a lot easier than listening to everyone's sob story and trying to read between the lines and figure out who's telling the truth and who's not.

The fundamental conceptual error that a lot of people (especially entitlement generation) make about airline hiring is that they assume the process is intended to be "fair".

That is the furthest thing from the truth, the airlines just want to avoid training failures and that one really bad apple. They are perfectly willing to discard 100 good guys/gals if they think the ringer will get tossed in the process. The whole thing is only going to be fair to the extent required by law...and there's no law that says they have to give you a chance if you have background issues.

The problem with various background "issues" that people have is not that they are inherently bad people because of the issues, but rather that it is more work (often a lot more) to research those kinds of things and make a decision. Then the decision maker might be going out on a limb...if he works to find a way to accommodate someone with an issue, and that person later has a recurrence, it could reflect poorly on him.

 

I posted this very question some weeks ago, in short has any new hire noticed a new soft inquiry on their credit report? Either way I would imagine this would figure into whatever score HR derives for each applicant.