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When Justin Bassett interviewed for a new job, he expected the usual questions about experience and references. So he was astonished when the interviewer asked for something else: his Facebook username and password.
Bassett, a New York City statistician, had just finished answering a few character questions when the interviewer turned to her computer to search for his Facebook page. But she couldn't see his private profile. She turned back and asked him to hand over his login information.
Bassett refused and withdrew his application, saying he didn't want to work for a company that would seek such personal information. But as the job market steadily improves, other job candidates are confronting the same question from prospective employers, and some of them cannot afford to say no.
In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government agencies are going beyond merely glancing at a person's social networking profiles and instead asking to log in as the user to have a look around.
"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."
That is insane. Good for him for saying no and refusing to work for a company that would ask such a thing. If your facebook page is set to private, asking for the password is the same as asking for my email password as far as I'm concerned. No way I would allow an employer or potential employer that much access to my personal life. That being said anything I put on my facebook profile that is public, including likes, activities, pictures, etc. is fair game and employers should be able to use it judge me just like any other public information.
I think that is outrageous. First credit checks, then psychometric testing, now demanding access to your personal networking sites. What next, have you stripped naked at the office so an HR person can search for tattoos or piercings.
It wouldn't be a problem for me as I don't do much on facebook except put pictures of my dogs and bicycling and wish my family happy birthday.
i dont put anything incriminating on facebook, but i wouldnt want anyone to read my private messages back and forth. i would have walked out- def not an organization i'd be interested in working for
How can anyone be okay with this???? There isn't anything on my facebook (I hate facebook) but I would never even think of working for a place that had the audacity to ask for something like that! It would be akin to letting them have the keys to my house so they could rummage around my things. I would have done the same as the guy in the OP's story. When I was seeking a job from my current employer I put all of my social accounts to private and even changed my name on some of them so I couldn't be found.
I can understand an employer looking for public things about you that you have posted, but never private!
Yeah right...so they can hack into it and post things on there without your knowledge and approval! Passwords are there for a reason. This is out of line. I don't even ask my children for their passwords unless I have reason to suspect some hanky-panky.
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Passwords are there for a reason. This is out of line. I don't even ask my children for their passwords unless I have reason to suspect some hanky-panky.
