Originally Posted by
Newspaperguy
Here are a few reasons an employer would ask about how you get to work.
1. You'll have some travel for your work, whether out-of-town runs or fast in-town deliveries.
2. The job site is not served by bus lines.
3. The work hours include some shifts when the transit does not run.
4. You'll be the first response contact if something goes wrong at the site and you have to get there within minutes.
I'd answer the question, but if it's brought up in the interview, I'd want to learn more.
Also, in a tight job market, I would be willing to make some concessions in order to be employed. The overall quality of life package is much more important to me than the specific details about how I get to work. Others have strong convictions about being car-free and will rather pass up a job than take one that requires a car. If that's your conviction, I respect it.
Yet most of the jobs that seem to obsess over having a car to get to work seem to be lower paying, some of them paying minimum wage. How they expect someone to maintain a dependable car on minimum wage is beyond me.
FWIW I have been considering downgrading my job from the current 60-70 hours a week, 270 days a year on the road to something closer to home. Best I am going to be able to do is roughly half the current salary, that in itself is not a problem. But the expectations of some of the companies is: one company I applied for wants you to have a car so you can work at multiple locations in a 5 county area when staffing demands change (someone doesn't show up for work). I have found several other possibilities that are much better from a transportation point of view.
I think that employers need to worry less about how their people get to work, and more about the quality of the people they hire. If you hire someone that is mature and responsible they will get to work somehow.
Aaron
