Employers ask job seekers for Facebook passwords

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Missed my point - I know plenty of talented young programmers who wouldn't touch FB with a 10 foot pole. I wouldn't classify them as "old school".

My husband didn't get an indoor bathroom with running water until he moved away from home in 1975. I didn't get a cell phone until 2009. Progress does not stop because people refuse to participate.

[TheMorningStar]

My husband didn't get an indoor bathroom with running water until he moved away from home in 1975. I didn't get a cell phone until 2009. Progress does not stop because people refuse to participate.

Lets just say that as an IT professional who is involved in the hiring process, I don't view FB as progress. All I care about is ability. In my world, the most talented aren't exactly the most social anyway. If we think their personality is not a good fit but we can make money off of them then we just 1099 them.They don't get paid without performance or product and we can stop using them at any time.
If we are interested in hiring them full time, we have a company that background checks their SSN. As their names are not on anything, we do not care what their web persona entails.
Then we get into the realm of NDAs - now those require enforcement which may require FB access but we make them log in for us. I admit these are done on a sneak attack basis. Yes, we know what sites all workstations are visiting and for how long etc.. They know this so they just use their phones.

EDIT: I just double checked, the FB thing has never happened in our house yet but was brought up in a meeting a year or so ago. I was correct in our resolution. I still find it to be useless.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Lets just say that as an IT professional who is involved in the hiring process, I don't view FB as progress. All I care about is ability. In my world, the most talented aren't exactly the most social anyway. If we think their personality is not a good fit but we can make money off of them then we just 1099 them.They don't get paid without performance or product and we can stop using them at any time.
If we are interested in hiring them full time, we have a company that background checks their SSN. As their names are not on anything, we do not care what their web persona entails.
Then we get into the realm of NDAs - now those require enforcement which may require FB access but we make them log in for us. I admit these are done on a sneak attack basis. Yes, we know what sites all workstations are visiting and for how long etc.. They know this so they just use their phones.

As I said in an earlier post, it all depends on the job you're applying for. Personally, even as a burger flipper, I wouldn't personally object but see no point, but as for any position that FB post posts could reflect or effect the business negatively, I see no issue. Do I like it? No. But it is an issue for any business in the digital age.

[TheMorningStar]

Not convinced that it isn't a waste of time. They can either do their jobs or not. There was talk of making a business FB account and forcing them to friend us. I thought then and still think that energy is better spent making it rain by finding a customer or a need or by creating a revenue stream for us by building something to sell or as a one off contract.
If that is old school then I'm proud to be on that team.
FYI: The biggest offender when it comes to spilling the beans is a partner *sigh*.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Not convinced that it isn't a waste of time. They can either do their jobs or not. There was talk of making a business FB account and forcing them to friend us. I thought then and still think that energy is better spent making it rain by finding a customer or a need or by creating a revenue stream for us by building something to sell or as a one off contract.
If that is old school then I'm proud to be on that team.
FYI: The biggest offender when it comes to spilling the beans is a partner *sigh*.

I dont necessarily disagree. All I am seeing is a business using another tool in certain positions. It's not ALL employers are asking ALL employees for this information. But as the digital age becomes more upon us, the difference in "who gets the job" may come down to the FB presentation. It's no different than checking out the portion of the your CV that lists' "other activities" and one glorifies ones other contributions.

From what I've read when this issue broke weeks ago on the internet, for the most part, employers are not looking for misdeeds on one's Facebook. They're looking for confirmation of a social fit into their business and current team. I really can't fault them for using that. After all, would you like too work for/with people that you really truly cant abide?

[Tundratot]

I don't see what my employer needs to know about my private life if I'm doing a million different things. He'd have to justify that request to get me to even seriously consider the question. I am getting more than a little put out by employers believing they need to know what I chat about, have copies of my fingerprints, and a full DNA scan. Piss on them. Maybe I should demand to see their accounts and have a forensic expert comb through them before I consider their offer.

[newstarshipsmell]

If you explained that you think FB is a waste of time so you don't have an account, would they automatically think you are lying just to cover your ass?

Well, you can always set your profile to private, so no one outside your immediate friends can look you up; you can also deactivate your account, which removes all of your activity, and later on you can restore it and make it all magically come back, so I understand. There are certainly plenty of people out there who don't have a facebook account, so it's not an implausible claim to make.

[Marv]

I only recently set up a FB account after getting bullied into it by my family who wanted to 'keep in touch' with me. I had never seen the point of one before. I have a few friends on there (mainly immediate family, ha ha!) and I'm very rarely on there. So rarely that FB keep emailing me to tell me my friends are missing me. In fact, I only go on to my FB when I get a notification in my email that someone has messaged me!

In short, my FB is beyond boring. BUT, I still think it's a huge invasion of privacy to be asked for my password by an employer, and even though there is sod-all on there, I would still feel very uncomfortable with having them snoop around on there.

I agree with this:

It's akin to requiring someone's house keys," said Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor and former federal prosecutor who calls it "an egregious privacy violation."

Just as I would feel uncomfotable with someone coming around and snooping through my home, I would feel the same with them snooping around my FB. Would they hand over their passwords so you could snoop around their stuff? Fair's fair, and all that.

Of course, you could always just set up a 'spare' FB profile and be all sensible and intellectual and stuff, and give them THAT password if they asked.

[Rockin Ma]

Rockin', you know I love you, BUT if you engaged in such surreptitious tattletaling on me, I would view it as a FAR more egregious violation of privacy than a prospective employer asking for my password to get a snapshot of "right now". Activity such as this is exactly why prospective employers want to see people want to post on their FB. Why invite problems? (Not necessarily YOUR posts... but that of prspectives in respect to their current situations).

The first things I tell a client that comes in to my job is change your passwords and be aware of what you post on facebook. If I'm checking up on the other party, then of course they are checking up on the person at my job likewise. Mostly that comes into play in divorces. Especially since at that point, it's the only way these people are communicating. Clients have sent their Iphone messages where in Court a party would state they did not have a particular item of personal property of the other on the record, then acknowledge they actually did have it in mean text messages. It's helpful. It's also a lot easier and cost effective to settle something like that communicating with the other party (or their atty if they have one) by a letter to work it out rather than show up in Court to spend the time fighting in front of a Judge.

[nopatience]

I don't see what my employer needs to know about my private life if I'm doing a million different things. He'd have to justify that request to get me to even seriously consider the question. I am getting more than a little put out by employers believing they need to know what I chat about, have copies of my fingerprints, and a full DNA scan. Piss on them. Maybe I should demand to see their accounts and have a forensic expert comb through them before I consider their offer.

Agreed. My FB acct is basically nothing more than pics of my kids for long distance family, a comment here and there about nothing, or the occasional rant about some jackass who doesn't know how to drive. Even though I have nothing to hide, I don't see how this is relevant to how well I would perform a job. Most people who are doing something they shouldn't are not (usually) stupid enough to put it out there where anyone can turn them in. Not saying it doesn't happen, but to me, this seems like a pissing match to see how far they can invade someone's life under the pretense of employment. And how do I know the people who would be looking at my info isn't shady themselves? I wouldn't. The only way I would even consider it is if they gave me theirs to snoop around as well.

[LadyCygnet]

Checking out one's facebook can also give potential employers the ability to discriminate against an applicant in violation of certain laws (regarding age, marital status, religion, disabilities) without creating solid evidence that they have done so.

[gee]

Rockin', you know I love you, BUT if you engaged in such surreptitious tattletaling on me, I would view it as a FAR more egregious violation of privacy than a prospective employer asking for my password to get a snapshot of "right now". Activity such as this is exactly why prospective employers want to see people want to post on their FB. Why invite problems? (Not necessarily YOUR posts... but that of prspectives in respect to their current situations).

this exactly the reason I do not accept friend requests from co-workers. Now I don't really have anything to hide but I do keep work life and personal life seperate.

[LeaveMeBe]

I am probably one of the few people who has a face book with no clue as to my identity other than the name Malq.

You and my brother. He created a FB and named himself Alfred Hitchcock and kept sending me friend requests. I thought it was just some creeper idiot (turns out it was) so I kept saying no. Turns out all he wanted to do was post old looney tunes clips off youtube on my wall. So now I just get them left on my voicemail on my phone because I ignore his calls.

[LeaveMeBe]

I'd hand my passwords over right after they finished collecting a stool sample and giving me a pap smear.

It's not because I have anything to hide but because it is about as invasive as prospective employers wanting to do these procedures. Oh, and by the way, here are my credit cards and pin numbers.

[gee]

I'd hand my passwords over right after they finished collecting a stool sample and giving me a pap smear.

It's not because I have anything to hide but because it is about as invasive as prospective employers wanting to do these procedures. Oh, and by the way, here are my credit cards and pin numbers.

I am with you on this sister! They can find out all they need to know with the ssn# we give them as well as the back ground check that everyone does now. To actually pry into ones personal life is over the top. What the hell did these employers do before twiitter, FB, My Space.

[Bohring]

LOL - I had a giant cell phone for a couple years in the early 90's when nobody had one. I didn't get another cell phone until 2010.

I had "the brick" as well!

[nurseronda]

Sometimes the things my Bosses post have me asking myself should I really be working for these people...
Yes, I do have them as friends who see what I post too so I do watch what I post because I don't need them asking themselves if I should be working for them. Passwords should remain private and they shouldn't ask for them.

[Mikeisgreen]

I'm glad I searched for a few keywords regarding this story. I had almost posted a CBC article unter the thread title:

Slaveholders Given Pass On Facebook Felonies


What burns me is that this is a violation of FB terms of service and the U.S. Department of Justice consideres it to be a federal felony. Still, they won't prosecute it.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2...employers.html

The U.S. Department of Justice regards it as a federal crime to enter a social networking site in violation of the terms of service, but during recent congressional testimony, the agency said such violations would not be prosecuted.

Slavers have also been using theird party apps to snoop through profiles, but the applicant still has to OK it:

E. Chandlee Bryan, a career coach and co-author of the book "The Twitter Job Search Guide," said job seekers should always be aware of what's on their social media sites and assume someone is going to look at it.

More companies are also using third-party applications to scour Facebook profiles, Bryan said. One app called BeKnown can sometimes access personal profiles if a job seeker allows it.

Sears is one of the companies using apps. An applicant has the option of logging into the Sears job site through Facebook by allowing a third-party application to draw information from the profile, such as friend lists.

Then there's an interesting legal opinion:

Lori Andrews, law professor at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law specializing in Internet privacy, is concerned about the pressure placed on applicants, even if they voluntarily provide access to social sites.

"Volunteering is coercion if you need a job," Andrews said.

I for one would not submit my diary or record and submit my phone calls, which in my mind is what allowing a slaver access to my FB amounts to. The slaver is asking for access to an applicant's personal communications. What's next? Wiretapping my landline? Demanding my cellphone records?

If slavers want to claim they simply want to make sure they are not being trashed online, they have libel laws to protect them. Teh industry standard in Canada is a non-disclosure agreement. Essentially slaves sign a contract agfreeing not to publicly discuss the slaver's business or operations.

I'm glad that this kind of demand is illegal in Canada. We have a lovely piece of legislation called the "Canada Privacy Act."


All that being said, I stopped "working" for others years ago. I am not gong to use the fruits of my labour to line somone else's pocket. I am an independent professional. Not that there is anything wrong with having a job; most people need to get through that way. I am incredibly lucky that I have a skillset taht does not require me to wear another man's yoke. Also, not having expensive tastes in life and enjoying simplicity helps a lot.


I do however have two FB accounts. A dummy "professional" account and my "real" one. One of the two lists my occupation as "psychopath." I'll leave it up to you, gentle reader, do guess which one.



(Why do I have to wait 30 days before creating a sig? Is it time to figure out what kind os sig is appropriate? If so, feedback on this sig is welcome...)

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KUM BA YA!