There's been a lot of discussion about a burgeoning trend amongst colleges and employers asking candidates for their Facebook and email passwords during job interviews, seemingly not only a no-no for personal privacy issues, but also because sharing passwords is actually a violation of Facebook's terms...
Potential employers and colleges are likely to cite studies like the one conducted and published by the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, which found a correlation between a person's Facebook page and their job performance (via PC Mag):
Researchers asked a college professor and a pair of students to review Facebook profiles of employed college students. Afterwards, they answered various personality questions about the subjects, such as how trustworthy they were or how well they get along with others. They browsed a total of 274 profiles for about five to 10 minutes each.Six months later, the researchers got performance reviews from about a quarter of the subjects' employers. The results showed that Facebook profiles were overwhelmingly accurate at predicting success - much better than even standard personality tests.
But is this reason enough to allow potential employers or colleges access to what is meant to be private information? Facebook is pushing back and noting this act of password sharing violates their privacy and user agreement policy, but currently the issue seems to be in legal limbo. This seems yet another reason to be careful about what you share online, as our private lives are slowly merging into a more public one, with or without your consent.
Concerned? Lifehacker offers some good advice: What Do I Do When My Employer Wants to be Too Social?.
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Absolutely not. I don't friend companies either, because that is another way to let them mine accounts for information. I get enough ads shouted at me on a daily basis, I don't need more.
not a chance.. if an employer wants to see my page .. fine.. if he wants my password.. im not working for them.. there is nothing i would think that would keep me from getting a job and in fact it may help.. however .. i value my privacy.. and I dont care who it is.. they do not have a right to know everything.
There is probably a fair argument to be made that this violates Title VII, among other anti-discrimination laws. In job interviews, you cannot ask a persons marital status, sexual orientation, plans to have children, all based on anti-discrimination laws at the federal, state, and local level (I'm in Chicago,which has a pretty stringent anti-discrim. ordinance).
I would imagine that a decent employment attorney could argue that getting your private Facebook info is akin to asking all sorts of these types of questions. And, if you cannot ask directly, it doesn't seem kosher to "ask" indirectly.
This strikes me as one of those: you-don't-want-to-work-for-a-company-that-would-ask-this situations.
Not in a billion years...and I have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of oh my Facebook account. Actually, it would probably be helpful as it shows a large breadth of interests and activities. Which is important in my line of work.
But just on matter of principal, I would not want to work for a company that would even begin to THINK that that's appropriate.
Other things I won't be sharing with a potential employer...house keys, my ATM pin, my tax returns for the last ten years, my nickname for my brother, or where I keep my spare cash.
This whole thing is ludicrous.
Never. In fact, I'd lose all respect for any potential employer on the spot if they asked me for my credentials. "We'll hire you, but first give us a copy of your house key." Riiiiight.
The Facebook TOS specifically precludes users from giving their log-in information to other people. Just point this fact out to your potential employer. Ask them if they are really inducing you to violate your contract with Facebook as a condition of your employment?
I'm sure a good employment attorney would have fun if you didn't get the job (or even if you did get the job).
LOL. My facebook profile has nothing there but there is no way I'd give my password to anyone - what makes any employer think they have that right?
But maybe it will scare some stupider people into thinking before they facebook.
No way would I do this. However, I would like to know if anyone as been asked to do this and if anyone has given the information.
It's disgusting but I'd probably consent in this job market.