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Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

seattletimes.com

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Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#91

Post by forgetsusername »

jzwinck wrote: post #11
zodiac wrote: post #5

Why is he failing background checks if he's never been non-wrongfully convicted? Genuinely curious to hear from anyone with experience on the employer side of this.

There are two kinds of background checks. The official kind done by a dedicated team with access and knowledge to retrieve city, state and federal data. And the HR kind, where someone without an investigative background and education spends ten minutes doing web searches and online "stalking" to see if the candidate has any untoward elements in their past. The first kind costs hundreds dollars per candidate. The seco…

>There are two kinds of background checks.

IBM. Wells Fargo. Frontier Airlines. T-Mobile. Experian. Daimler Chrysler.

These are some of the companies listed in the article. They are some of the biggest in the world. They don't seem to me to be the type of companies that take the latter approach to recruitment, possibly opening themselves up to discrimination legal issues.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#93

Post by mattlutze »

dgoldstein0 wrote: post #84
rmc wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? But the right wing in the UK keep insisting it's because of all that red tape from Brussels and the EU? How can the USA, being free from the yoke of Eurocrats, have such similar problems???

Just because we are American doesn't mean we don't know how to make our own red tape.

As a matter of fact, we kind of feature it on our flag.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#94

Post by wavefunction »

aianus wrote: post #29
cshimmin wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, for one thing the charge was for selling crack cocaine...

Sounds like an entrepreneur to me.

Sure, if you disregard all the damage that crack cocaine specifically does to individuals and society.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#95

Post by chatwinra »

This just backs up why I think Finland's recent move[1] to give every citizen a basic salary is the way forward.

You'd then give everyone that basic level of security and enable them to progress in life. Yes there are potential flaws with the Finnish scheme (some people on benefits may ultimately lose out, and millionaires getting the same amount as poor people) - but crucially it would probably stop most, if not all, of cases like this, where someone can't escape the pull of homelessness even with opportunity there.

1 - http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/finland-plans-to-give-ev...

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#96

Post by JupiterMoon »

wavefunction wrote: post #94
aianus wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like an entrepreneur to me.

Sure, if you disregard all the damage that crack cocaine specifically does to individuals and society.

Except that in this case he did not actually sell crack cocaine.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#98

Post by rdancer »

DanBC wrote: post #88
buro9 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fully escaped? I've spoken openly of my 30 months sleeping rough on the streets of the UK. I may have "escaped" homelessness, but the mental scars accumulated whilst on the street do still haunt me. I feel it, the sense of worthlessness, the self-doubt. There's a feeling that I shouldn't be alive let alone here in this workplace or surrounded by good people, a feeling that I don't quite belong. One can put a roof ove…

May I ask: What would have helped? And what would help now? Homeless people and people who are vulnerably housed in the UK have pretty lousy treatment from "services", a lot of which is provided by faith and voluntary groups. There are huge amounts of stigma, and a lot of misunderstanding of alcoholism and drug use and mental illness.

> Homeless people and people who are vulnerably housed in the UK have pretty lousy treatment from "services", a lot of which is provided by faith and voluntary groups.

Local council has to put you up in some accommodation. That's what we pay taxes for, so that people who happen to be evicted didn't end up in the streets. There's plenty of money on the table, and all you have to do is ask. You have to work the system, you need to know where to go and whom to talk to, and in a situation when you don't have the money for a bus ticket, that requires much more effort than it would normally do.

The system in the UK can be summed up as "help thyself, and the government will help thee". I think it is a good system, because it taught me to take care of myself. Its unfortunate effect is that people whose coping mechanism involves self-destructive behaviours are not being helped, even when help is available for them.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#100

Post by kevinchen »

kraftman wrote: post #97

“I am very pleased to offer you the full-time position of Senior Analyst, Security Compliance,” - so why doesn't he take that job? Or are they offering him the job and then by the time he goes to take it they've googled him and changed their minds?

Yes, that's entire point of the article.
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