You don’t need to owe much money at all in order to establish a good credit history. It’s just a way for those who don’t know you from a hole in the wall to get some idea of your degree of dependability and trustworthiness. How else can they do this without some official record of your prior financial/business dealings? That is what a credit score is all about. You just have to have the willpower not to go too crazy with credit.
I would assume that the interview process would vet my trustworthiness. I already work at a large company and I hope that any future employment would be with a small company, where the interviewer would not have to be cowed by some HR hiring policy.
If a company is so reliant on the FICO score, then I would also assume that the company is debt ridden. I’d also assume that their long term viability is risky as in my opinion debt equals risk. Keep in mind that in any job search, the vetting goes in both directions. How secure would I feel working for a company that is so debt ridden that they rely on the FICO score for hiring? Not very.