Facebook profile request during job interviews 10

[ports394]

So I searched facebook and saw an old 2010 discussion about this. Nothing recently.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-03-20-03-22-06

Does anyone else think this is a bad practice? I keep my facebook locked down for privacy, and the most I say about work is "Had a long day at work today" or "Worked 12 hours today".

I was going over the ASME Ethics for MechE's and they really say nothing about being a decent person, not posting stupid links on FB, etc etc....As long as you put the public good first, as an engineer and promote the profession in a positive way.

 

[casseopeia]

The economy and legions of unemployed have turned every single HR Manager into delusional, self-important, dictators that would embarrass the late Kim Jong Il. As a job-seeker, you do not have the free will that people with regular paychecks think you have. You can't just say no and walk out anymore than you can refuse to give up your SSN and birthdate for a criminal background check.

I'd like to see some high profile smack-downs of the worst abusers to put the fear into them.

"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge." Ivana Trump

 

[ports394]

casseopeia, It's an unethical abuse of power, I agree. That's why I thought I'd get more hits on the forum search about it... with people sharing which firms/corporations asked for that kind of information.

Personally, I'm not going to give them my password, with the plan to change it later. I don't mind the background check, but that's all publicly available information, like DUI's and bankruptcy.

 

[SNORGY]

The problem with Facebook is once you start an account with them, they won't allow you to simply wipe out the account or erase all records related it. I fought with them for half a year before they caved and deleted my FB account; in the end, they were good about it. Why did I delete it? someone posted a picture of a "moon" on my wall and my siter's kids got shocked by it. I had no patience to become a censor or moderator every day.

The best way to avoid the problem is: don't have a Facebook account.

For those who ask to see it as part of a job-related background check...my response would be, "Ya, um, let me think about that...OK, no." The conversation would end there.

Regards,

SNORGY.

 

[ports394]

Snorgy, well.. the article also guesses that people who say they dont have FB, especially younger people are lying and probably getting bumped out anyway.

 

[casseopeia]

I'm pretty sure my last employer's HR witch saw the article and immediately started asking for FB account login. My FB page doesn't even provide work or employment information. The most they could find out is that I have pet fish and 65-70 friends in the belly dance world, including musicians. I have three friends who post in Arabic and a radically Republican brother who happens to be funny as he!! and a sister who makes the church lady look like Linsey Lohan. My sister was deprived at birth of a sense of humor.

I have not counted the number of friends who self-describe themselves as 'alternative', a witch/goddess, or in possession of some special power (can thought-talk to animals). How does any of that really show how I am as an employee, or what my values are, other than tolerant of a wide range of personalities?

What they really should be asking for is my Eng-Tips login.

"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge." Ivana Trump

 

[berkshire]

I guess the whole thing comes down to the term "reasonable search"
The HR guy thinks it is reasonable, the job applicant thinks it's not.
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor

 

[drawoh]

SNORGY,

If someone posts inappropriate pictures on your wall, unfriend them. You have better things to do with your time than censor posts. I suspect that most of us have children on our friend lists.

I wonder how Facebook savvy these HR droids are. Most of the people I know on Facebook are lurkers. They don't post. There is nothing to learn.

I have one "friend" who treats Facebook as an on-line diary. If she assassinates some important person, we will be able to develop a personality profile from her posts. I am not holding my breath.

Most Facebook posts are not serious. I have another friend who is in Whitehorse, Yukon, on a consulting job. This is the nearest thing I have seen to a work related post.

JHG

 

[frv]

I think it's insane that they ask for this.

I know necessity can be a heck of a thing, but I'd like to think I'd get up and walk away from the interview shortly after shaming whatever maggot asked for that information. I suspect they are taking advantage of the fact that people are desperate for work. Once this becomes common practice, it will be hard for anybody to take a stand.

 

[MadMango]

Of course the alternative, if it's that important, is to prepare for the worse and create a sterile, prim and proper profile for HR types.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."


Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of these Forums?

 

[patprimmer]

I don't have a facebook account as I considered it's entire reason for being created was to create contacts lists for spammers and scammers.

Asking for login details is identity theft and is as bad as demanding you hand over your wallet. You could always reply to that request that you had given your login to hundreds of people and they all used your account to post god knows what under your name. What did they intend to add.

I certainly would never employ anyone who could be coerced into providing their login details as I would not trust them to not also disclose company confidential information if pressed.

I am seriously rethinking my linkedin account which I created when looking for more work.

Regards
Pat
See FAQ731-376 for tips on use of eng-tips by professional engineers &

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm

for site rules

 

[dvd]

The whole topic of requesting FB login data seems like BS to me. How many people get asked? Are more ridiculous requests made every day that are not in the news? Seems to have generated lots of discussion in numerous places, but the story appears practically anecdotal to me.

 

[ports394]

Thank god for friends. My friend just reminded me of all the "can not ask questions" for interviews and applications.

http://www.hrworld.com/features/30-interview-questions-111507/

Nationality, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, political affiliation. All of those are on FB.

So that's a way to get out of it, and maintain a civil discourse.

 

[ctopher]

IMO, the only jobs that should be allowed to look at your FC, are government jobs that are linked to national security.
These days, maybe schools look at teachers too!

Chris
SolidWorks 11
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[patprimmer]

I wonder how many terrorists post their political views on facebook before applying for a job with the other side that requires security clearance.

Regards
Pat
See FAQ731-376 for tips on use of eng-tips by professional engineers &

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm

for site rules

 

[casseopeia]

Potential employers are not allowed to discriminate based on all those including age. They are allowed to ask your birthdate for the purpose of running a security check but can't ask how old you are. A background check will turn up marriages and divorces, but they can't ask for your marital status.

I have read numerous legal analyses stating that the employer can be allowed to have the information, as long as they don't use it to discriminate. I can see companies squawking about protecting corporate security by poking around your Facebook account, but if they just happen to encounter photographs of you getting arrested during an Occupy protest, or dressed in drag during a pride parade, oh well. I guess the judicial system thinks that corporations and HR weenies would never do anything so underhanded as to use this information to weed out people they don't want, even if discriminatory. I guess the courts think that they will simply admit it.

And what happens when they do ask? Are you going to whip out a copy of the state employment laws and show them the error of their ways. That's got the same outcome as just getting up and walking out.

"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge." Ivana Trump

 

[ports394]

casseopeia, while the outcome might be the same... I'd feel much better pointing it out and then leaving.

 

[patprimmer]

I find in an interview, there mostly comes a time where you think, it's in the bag, or no chance or I don't want it. The tone normally changes quite quickly at that point.

Regards
Pat
See FAQ731-376 for tips on use of eng-tips by professional engineers &

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm

for site rules

 

[SomptingGuy]

Does not having a FB account mean you are a deviant these days? Like not having a driving licence? (sorry, drivers license).

- Steve

 

[jmw]

Given that Facebook pays $1 a day to people in the third world to investigate complaints about material on the site and that these people have unfettered access to everything you think is secure, you have to wonder that anyone posts anything at all.
Plus it is said that criminal gangs are focussing on this vulnerability.
All you have to do is complain abo0ut something on someone's site and FB passes all the access details to the third world and thus, allegedly, to criminal gangs.
No problem for HR then.


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[jgailla]

I don't have a FB account, but if I did, hell no.
I have, however, been very hungry for a job in the last couple of years.
Sometimes, as I heard in a movie, you just have to lay back, look at the stars, and wait for them to finish.
The current employment issue in the US is probably going to get better and is unlikely to repeat for some time, if the history of the 20th century tells us anything.