» Employers Asking For Social Network Passwords

[VirusZero]

So a startling trend has begun with more employers asking potential employees to cough up their social networking login credentials so that employers can check out the employee fully.

So then... Should employers be allowed to ask for login credentials (username/password)? Or should they be allowed ask the user to log in on a company computer instead?
Or is it too much to even ask for that kind of info?

What would you do if an employer asked for your login info?

[DamascaRamza]

I would respectfully decline, my private life is my business and I wouldn't be stupid enough to bitch about work on my Facebook or Twitter. I don't need anyone snooping around to dig up dirt on me to make up an excuse not to hire mev

[VirusZero]

Personally, I would just tell them I don't have any social networking accounts (which is true), nor am I interested in obtaining one. I would also point out that even if I did have an account, they would not be getting the username let alone the password. Seeing as how the ToS of most major sites expressly forbid users from handing out their passwords to others. And even if they didn't forbid handing out the password, as a matter of principle I wouldn't anyway. No one needs access to see everything with the options to change settings (which is what would be gained by handing over the password).

I would also not be comfortable logging onto one of their computers to show them my account either. Unless I could run my own virus/anti-malware scans to ensure the system is secure, I would not be logging in because otherwise it would be too easy for them to place a keylogger on the system to grab the password so they could log in later. (Like right after I leave so they can check the account more thoroughly on their own without fearing that I'm going to be logging in for a few minutes.) I'm not sure how probable a company is to do this, but I'd certainly not be willing to put it past them if they're demanding passwords anyway.

While I firmly believe that anything put online is no longer private, that doesn't mean it is both open and ok for everyone to see. (Once you put anything on the internet expectations of privacy should be non-existent if you allow even 1 other person to see it. Because so long as someone else can see it, it can be passed on. Copied and pasted, reuploaded, screenshotted, or whatever and that would be beyond your control. That doesn't make it right, not by a long shot, but it can still happen. Which is why I say not to post things you wouldn't say to your mother/grandmother/high school teacher/doctor/local police officer/etc...)

[Jet]

I really see no point in this, there's no point in snooping around blindly in someone's facebook. You don't even know what you're looking for, you're just there to look to see if there is something worth looking around for... Makes no sense, especially when you can do a more thorough investigation into someone with a standard, infinitely more legal, criminal background check.

If this becomes common practice I've no doubt that someone will protest loudly enough after refusing to allow access and being denied a job, that a case will eventually get to the higher courts to rule on it. But that could take years.

In the meantime, if this becomes common practice I simply intend to create a second, alternative profile showing only myself in a suit and listing all of my accomplishments and qualifications. Basically a second resume is all they'd be getting, and if they ask, no, I have no personal account, this is all they're getting. Solved.

[VirusZero]

Though it isn't necessarily blind snooping... Companies do have an idea of what they're looking for. Companies want to know things about potential hires like:

• how much they use social networking. (Is it going to be an issue that they spend all day on facebook when they should be working?)
• what they act like. (Do they curse a lot, spread rumours, complain about things, rage about issues, etc...)
• how often they party. (And more over, is it a case where they're going to be coming in every Monday hung over from the weekend party? Or is it going to be an issue that they'll be calling in sick frequently to go drinking or recover from drinking? )
• any potentially embarrassing photos that may come back to bite them. (Head stuck in a watercooler because they were so drunk? The company wants to know that so this person is not getting promoted as employee of the month when everyone knows about the drunken escapades. Even worse if the job they have them doing involves any sort of public relations.)
• if they've complained about past jobs.
• if they've badmouthed past jobs/employers.
• if they've blown the whistle on past employers. (Most companies hate whistleblowers, it means lots of cost and investigations for them. So they don't want to hire someone who is known to have instigated these sorts of things.)
• their political affiliations (they may be a left wing company and may not want to hire someone if they see they're a right wing supporter).

Though criminal background checks are useful, they are not the be all end all... If a person hasn't been caught then there won't be a record for them to check. And plus if the person did have a record but it got pardoned then nothing would show up on a background check either. Besides whether there is or isn't a record it doesn't tell you what kind of person they are, it only tells you whether or not they've been arrested/convicted of any charges. So you're not going to be able to read their record and know that they like to drink on the weekends if they've never even gotten a speeding ticket. Sure it might let you know that you don't want to hire someone for a position anywhere near money because they were convicted of fraud or embezzlement. But beyond that it won't tell you who they are.

That's why employers want to see the facebook pages, because people post their whole lives on them, so it gives the company a much clearer idea of who they're hiring. And they may have things posted privately to just themselves or a few friends that companies would really want to know about. Something that ordinarily they'd never share with a prospective employer even if they added the employer as a friend but could be highly damaging to an employer.

People can write great resumes and look phenomenal on paper, but that doesn't matter so much if they're a poisonous leech who is going to make the work environment toxic and/or dangerous due to their actions. Employers want to protect themselves from that, and often their other employees too (miserable workplace = less getting done = less money made, dangerous workplace = injuries = lawsuits = massive costs).

So I do understand why companies want to have more thorough background checks on people... But I think asking for passwords is most assuredly out of bounds. They're basically asking potential employees to break the rules of another company to deal with them. How would they like it if someone asked this person to do it to them? And suppose someone did hand over their account password, should they be worried how easily this person hands over sensitive data? Would they hand over more sensitive data if asked for it? Who would they hand sensitive data to? (Public? Press? Government? Activists?) I mean just look how hard a time some companies have already to keep secrets. Game companies especially... The PSPGo was leaked before E3. Even full games get leaked. The whole ME3 script/ending got leaked (which may explain why people are even more pissed with this ending. Since it was hurriedly changed after the leak.) Would they really want to risk hiring an employee who would so easily fork over sensitive data?

[Jet]

While what you say is true Virus, I feel like most people are intelligent enough not to leave their profiles in such an incriminating state. Only the dumbest of the dumb are going to have a picture up of them drinking, leave status updates bitching about their other job and such. And if its not readily apparent, will the company assume everything is good or will this prompt them to dig a little more?

Now Facebook has that stupid timeline feature. My profile is clean now, but they say nothing is ever truly deleted from Facebook, my only concern is what if they found something stupid I wrote when I was 17 or something? I'm not the same person today, and I'll willingly acknowledge that I was an idiot back then. I think a lot of people do stupid stuff in their teen years, doesn't mean it should come back to bite them as adults.

Anyway that's my only fear, the only thing I've got to hide. I don't think they'd dig that far but like I said, if this were to become common practice I'd just make a second 'resume' profile for myself to get around it.

[VirusZero]

Some people are smart to clean things up... but I don't think that most are. Many still don't even know how the privacy settings work (it's how issues like this escalate further.*)

*I do not condone this bartender's comments, actions, reactions or behaviour in any way shape or form. Her attitude is despicable and disgusting and indicative of someone who is not fit to work near people.

Cases like the above are surprisingly common with people getting fired for things they do/say in an increasingly online world.

Though I do agree that if the company finds nothing it may prompt them to try digging harder.

As far as I know, nothing is ever truly deleted. They store everything posted on it in some fashion. (Possibly for legal proof if needed. Like if someone posted they stole x, y and z. Police get the confession from the site and use it as evidence.)

Unfortunately everything we do in our past can come back to bite us, no matter how old we were when we made that decision. And we have to live with the consequences of our actions/inactions. I agree it's not always right (there are some cases in which I do think past actions should always be considered) and many people aren't forgiving and don't want to let the past go. But this issue is only made worse when they can see thoughts/decisions from years ago more easily now with the power of computers and sites like facebook.

Personally, I hope this never becomes an accepted practice. If it does then what about people like me who don't use facebook... They're highly likely to assume I'm just lying when in fact I really don't have a facebook account. So they're probably just going to ditch any applications I put in because they think I'm lying.
And for those that use the second account tactic, employers would probably wise up to this quickly. Especially if an account doesn't look like it's been used for a long time or it's only for businesses and stuff. They'd porbably just dismiss it, and the potential hire if they feel like they're being lied to or jerked around.

[Demon_skeith]

I would decline saying I only use social sites to stay in touch with friends that have moved off to afar. And they have no right to see any of that.


And of course these companies know nothing about forums where I can do what they fear me doing