If a company asked you for your Facebook password because it was a requirement during their hiring process, would you give it to them? As desperate as I am to find work right now, I don't think that I could do it. That's an invasion of privacy and no better than the company asking for the password to your email accounts.
When a New York statistician named Justin Bassett recently interviewed for a new job, he expected the usual questions about experience and references. So, he was a little taken back when the interviewer asked him for his Facebook username and password. That's right! Bassett had just finished answering a few character questions when the interviewer turned to her computer to search for his Facebook, which was set to a private profile, she turned to him and asked him to hand over his login info. He refused and withdrew his application, saying that he didn't want to work for a company that would seek such personal information. Who would? This is not a Communist Country....yet! There's no reason for a company to ask for private information like this, but as the job market, which is said to be steadily improving, other job candidates are confronting the same questions from prospective employers, and some of them cannot afford to say no.
Why are these companies taking advantage of the unemployed like this? They are treating the unemployed like that have them by the balls, by asking questions like this. So, basically, if I was to not give my username and password to a company, I couldn't work there? How is that fair at all? Its equivalent to a prospective employer asking you for your house keys because they'd like to take a look around your house to see how you live. Its privacy violation, and the fact that this is happening to people, like me, who are desperately seeking work, makes me sick to my stomach!
Questions have been raised about the legality of this practice, which is also the focus of proposed legislation in Illinois and Maryland that would forbid public agencies from asking for access to social networks. It's no secret that since the rise of social media, it's become common for managers to review publically available Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts, and other sites to learn more about job candidates, but many users, especially on Facebook, have their profiles set to private, making them available only to selected people or certain networks. Here's a good idea! In the age of Smartphones, instead of the interviewer asking for login information, what if they just asked to be temporarily 'friended' so that they can see their profiles. This way it can be done right there on your phone, and you can delete them once they're done snooping around.
Companies that don't ask for passwords have taken other steps, such as asking for applicants to friend human resource managers or to log in to a company computer during an interview. Once employed, some workers have been required to sign non-disparagement agreements that ban them from talking negatively about an employer on social media. Well, that would be dumb to talk negatively about your job on a public forum, wouldn't it? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for companies doing background checks on prospective employees because technically, you want to make sure you're hiring a stand-up person, but to ask for login information, I feel that is just uncalled for and to not hire someone because they refused to give you that information is just ludicrous! What do you think?
I think you are crazy for thinking that just friending them to snoop around for a bit is ok. Personal life should have nothing to do with work. As far as the legality of asking for it before you are hired, should be perfectly legal you have the right to say no and they have the right not to hire you. If you choose to be a little bitch and hand it over, then you did so on your own free will. Nohting illegal about that, but then again im not some bloodsucking lawyer so who knows.
ReplyDeleteMy point, though, Brando, was that if they needed to snoop around so badly, I would let them in. It shouldn't have to come to giving them my username and password. That's invasion of privacy!
ReplyDeleteThis is obviously a new and truly troubling development and I can see some idiots forking over such information and making it seem to be "an okay practice" for firms who are prospecting for new employees. It's interesting to see just how important people have let Facebook become in their day and while I admit to being guilty of using it each and every day, its primary focus is to share the happenings on my PiercingMetal.com website and maintain its official page. Personally I think what I post about my conventional day is on the mundane side and unoffensive to the world at large but I have seen blatant outbursts of racism, political anarchy and harassment that staggers the imagination from people on my "friends" list. It's insane but that is not the point at hand.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that offering to friend a prospective employer is a good idea because who is to say that they get around to perusing in a timely fashion. We live in such an instant society that I often forget who I add and when they were added. Its unnecessary to monitor this. I think its within a company's right to know if someone uses a Facebook or Twitter if they fear what is going on there but beyond that your employee record and accomplishments should be that which shines and helps you find a job. Interesting how no one ever cared about my MySpace page as much or my Friendster (remember when those were the way to go?).
As someone also who is seeking work I don't see this helping us out. Its about as beneficial as those idiots who they give airtime to on the news and line out how "companys feel if someone is out of work for more than six months are a risky choice and that a talented person would have found something by then" This economy is terrible and I have passed six months a long time ago. I am no less talented or resourceful than I was before but it is that bad out there. Good luck to any searchers.