I’m not going to lie. I look up everyone I hire on Facebook before I hire them. Sometimes they have private profiles. Sometimes I can’t find them because 500 people share their name. And sometimes I can see it all.
I’m mainly looking for two things. Is this person always drunk or high? Is this person spewing negativity?
If I can avoid it, I will not hire a jerk. No one likes working with a jerk. For safety reasons, I have to have people that can be sober on the job. You also need to show up on time. So if your profile picture is one of you hitting a bong… I’m probably going to pass. You’ll fail the drug test, anyway. So why waste both of our time?
That’s about as far as I go when I’m screening applicants. And to tell you the truth, most hiring managers are doing the same thing. We’re looking for that one thing that will throw you in the “no” pile, especially when we have 500 more resumes to read for an entry level position. I mean, if you’re going to put your business out there on Front Street, I am going to take a look at it.
However, I was 110% shocked and appalled when I heard that employers are asking for a job candidate’s Facebook password.
Get out of town.
This is too much.
Do they not understand the legal ramifications of knowing too much about a job applicant?
As your resident Human Resources Director, I am here today to tell you to never give an employer your social media log in information.
I’ve read the articles, and I’ve spoke to some colleagues. They are saying they want your social media passwords to “get to know you better.”
This is a lie. They want to weed you out, and simply looking you up online isn’t enough anymore.
They don’t care about your background. They want to see if you have medical problems, if you have bad habits, and how you act when you think no one is looking.
They want the most intimate details of your life.
They want to see what’s going on behind the scenes of your Facebook account to see what you’re not sharing with the world. They want a reason not to hire you. So outside of coming into your home and snooping through your closets, this is the easiest way to find out if someone is going to work out in their company.
It’s total BS (that does not stand for Bachelor of Science). It’s an invasion of your privacy.
Facebook’s Erin Egan has responded to this outrageous request by stating, “We’ll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges,”
I know the job market is tough, and I know that we are thankful to even have an interview these days. But by golly, if we play into their hand, we won’t change a thing. We have to all agree that will not play this game, because where does it stop? What’s next? We allow employers to perform genetic testing?
It has to stop. Don’t work for a scum bag employer that needs to ask you for your password.
What do you think, crossing the line, or legitimate hiring practice? Has anyone ever asked you for your password?
Totally crossing a line. If an employer wanted to see my page as a “friend” I would totally let them, but I’m not giving my personal password to anyone.
I would never give my password to an employer. I wouldn’t friend an employer or most colleagues either. There is nothing on my fb for me to hide, but that is my space, outside of work, totally separate. Complete invasion of privacy. If a company is looking to weed out, giving your password to them or not giving your password it seems to me it’s the same thing. At least you have your privacy.
I completely agree. I meet many people in my line of work who then send me friend requests on facebook. And I decline them. There are many sites available for professional networking. Linkedin for example. For me, facebook is not a professional networking site. It’s a place for me to keep up with my friends and to let them know what’s going on with me.
And as far as giving my password to an employer??? Excuse me?! I wouldn’t even give my password to my mother. And she birthed me and loved me for the past 33 years. Why in the name of all that’s good and holy does an employer need your facebook password??? It is a horrible invasion of privacy. Why don’t I just toss in my bank account and credit card passwords while I’m at it.
This….is EXACTLY why I nor Hubs have a Facebook page. What I do in my private life is exactly that!! Bad enough as it is, there are a few people in our friend circle that have a bad habit of taking pics and posting them, but they can’t tag me, since I don’t have a page. But I think it is totally wrong for an employer or potential employer to ask for this. If a drug screen, criminal/sexual offender background check, driving record check, or even pulling credit scores isn’t enough to tell someone to hire me or not…then I don’t need to work for them. What would a potential employer do with me since I don’t Facebook or Twitter??? Not hire me because they CAN’T snoop into my private life?? I wish we could go back to the good old days…before social media! Life seemed so much simpler then!
This is ridiculous, and I hope I’m never so desperate for employment that I’ll feel forced to comply. It’s more than an invasion of privacy; it’s also a means for getting around discriminatory hiring laws. A potential employer can’t ask about someone’s marital status… But that’s a pretty common thing to have listed on facebook. A potential employer can’t ask about someone’s medical history… But if you look around my profile, you’ll see a facebook page I maintain for a blog I co-mod on Crohns & Colitis.
It’s great to hear someone’s voice on the other side of the table. Most articles have been written mostly from the perspective of disgruntled employees, not employers.
I’ve never had an employer (or potential employer) ask for my fb password. When I taught high school, however, I routinely had students ask if I had a fb so they could friend me. I told them that if they could find me, they could send me a friend request, but that I wouldn’t be friends with anyone until after they’d graduated from high school. I don’t do anything illegal, certainly, but I do have my political views and my taste in music, movies, and tv listed, and there are things in those categories that would have offended the parents of some of my students. I don’t have to answer for that – I’m an adult after all, and capable of making up my own mind as to what I deem acceptable – but I am accountable for parent reaction if I share that information with their children. And it always floored me how many teachers did friend their current students, and how they almost always seemed to find themselves in an ethical grey area. It was just easier for me to draw that clear boundary.
I completely agree, I have a no under-16 policy on my facebook, and certainly won’t seek out the young people I work with to add them. There are a few exceptions on my facebook but those are young people whose parents I know well, and I always speak to the parents before accepting a friend request. Then they go on a Limited Profile view because sometimes I get annoyed about my job and sometimes I stretch the boundaries of appropriate humour, and I don’t think it’s right for them to see that. Facebook is for my friends and acquaintances I see regularly and can hold a good conversation with – if you don’t fall into those categories, you don’t need to be on my facebook!
Amen.
I wouldn’t give my password to a potential employer but they are out of luck if they are looking for me on there anyway. I have an account, just not under my full legal name. People who know me can find me because they know what parts of my name I’m likely to use but anyone searching for the name on my job application is going to come up empty.
Unless they fail to compare my birthdate with the names that do come up, in which case I hope they mistake me for the 28 year old blond with the Doctorate in Political Science who is the first one to come up when you search for my actual name. I’m a 45 year old brunette with a masters in history so the interviewer and I should have lots to talk about it
I have done your job, and I know that A) when doing a previous employment verification call, there are certain things I could not ask, and certain questions I could not answer.
I need a job now, but not so bad that I would give my password to a potential employer. Hell, my kids, my BF, my mom, none of them have my password.
Besides I am not always as professional and polite online as I would be at a job. Everyone is multifaceted, I have an online me, a professional me, a parent me, and a girlfriend me… and a few others I haven’t met yet. I think one is named George.
Every employer will tell you to never share your network password with anyone. Company policy. If you do share your password and they find out, they can terminate you. So why in the world would they even consider asking for your Facebook password? Oh wait, it’s that old double standard.
Aaaaaand this is why I don’t have a corporate job. My FB is like one giant, extended penis conversation, and nobody needs to know about that except for the people who willingly friend me because they like hearing about weiners and food.
No, absolutely not! That would be a complete invasion of privacy. I share passwords with NO ONE.
But this brings up an interesting question … how does one circumvent mis-identification on Facebook? I don’t mind them looking me up on FB, since I keep things clean and mostly intellectual; some political stuff as well, but it’s all stuff I’m open about anyway.
BUT … my name (thanks to hubby for the way-too-common surname), when searched on FB, yields a huge number of results; I don’t want a future employer to thing that I’m the 28-yo alcoholic stripper! I’ve been tempted to put my LinkedIn and and Facebook links on on my resume to prevent any confusion … but I haven’t. Yet. I get the feeling that the job hunting process hasn’t evolved to that point yet, and that providing the link might appear to potential employers as a red herring.
Crossing the line – 100 %. When I first heard about it, I thought it was a joke.
I’ve never heard of employers asking for login information before, but I have heard of employers asking you to log in with them there to show some of your information. Photos, wall posts, etc.
I don’t have anything I wouldn’t be ok with an employer seeing, but I still don’t think it’s appropriate for them to ask.
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