Posted on 03/20/2012 7:18:33 AM PDT by bjorn14
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Neither can my son who is a PhD Materials Engineer in a National Lab. Thumb drives too. He has a locker where he drops all of that stuff on his way in and picks it up on his way out.
Or set up a dummy account for interviews.
In house counsel can "say" that, but do they want to test that in front of a jury? State or Federal? I'll take that case if my client has his facebook settings set to private.
To which the employer replies:
“Prove to me that you aren’t lying.”
or
“No Facebook page? What are you hiding?”
It's a derivative of something my Software Product Management professor once said -- outsource everything that isn't core business, i.e., directly related in producing and supporting your product. I think Scott Adams makes a similar point in The Dilbert Principle.
I’m not sure you’d win against a well funded corporation. Corporations don’t have the right to discriminate based on certain well-codified criteria — but they surely DO have a right to vet employees. It’s no slam dunk on your side, either.
Then again, I’m not sure it would ever really get that far.
Side note: if there’s that much risk to the corporation, you have to ask yourself why they’d be willing to take it. My opinion: I think hiring has become such a minefield that employers feel backed into a corner themselves. And rightfully so.
how would they even know you have a FReeper account?
It’s easy to figure out on FB if someone is on there - but how would they even know about forums w/ anonymous usernames?
Dilbert and the movie Office Space are pretty spot-on accurate in their representations of the workplace.
You two get it.
I totally agree with you on HR. Accounting? Bean counters are always divorced from reality.
IT? Well....I do know a little about that, since I've worked in it for 20-odd years.
IT is always an expense, not a revenue enhancer. Accordingly, we're in the same vein as Office Furniture....we just cost money and the only time anyone pays attention is when something breaks. For instance, when was the last time you called your IT dept and said "Hey, my phone worked OK all last week, thanks!", or "Hey, I just successfully sent an email!". Yeah, me either, but that stuff doesn't happen by magic.
I won't bother to regale you with 20 years worth of poor-picked-on me sob stories. Suffice it to say that the #1 topic is at any meeting is "What can we do to help the business....when the business itself can't articulate what it wants?"
Case in point, a company that I work at wanted to shave costs from their cell phone setup. Fair enough, there are plenty of ways to do that.
We proposed what I thought was a pretty damn good solution. "No dice", said management, "Puts too much reponsibility on the employees".
So, we tried something else.... "No dice", said management, "The CEO and top sales people xxx xxx xxx and xxx want *Apple*, not that".
So, we tried ASKING .... "OK, what are you thinking?" the response, "We want access to any phone type and plan in the country, we want it fully supported internally, and we want it cheaper than the plan we have right now."
Yeah, right. Never mind that the already understaffed Help Desk would need to learn and support a dozen more technologies. Geez, just standardizing on one or two phone types would simplfy things enormously. But Noooooo, Joe Executive likes Apple and Jane Exec likes Motorola and John Exec likes Blackberry and so on and so on.... And outside of needing to add staffing to support all that stuff, what the business requested would add substantially to expenses, rather than cut costs.
So, we're back to the drawing board. About the only thing I can guarantee about whatever solution we arrive at, is that it will p*ss off most of the users. "Those dammed guys in IT are screwing up my phone plan! Do they KNOW what *I* go through every day at work?!!" :-)
lol! Touche.
“Therefore when I hire I want to know A-B-S-O-L-U-T-E-L-Y EVERYTHING about that candidate I can POSSIBLY know. “
Same back at ya. I want to know everything about my employer since so many are freaks and crooks. So, turn over your computer Internet logs so I can see what kind of pervet you are. I also want to see the company bank accounts to know you can actually pay me.
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>> Nervous Tick, let’s say you are up for a job and the employer requires your Free Republic password. Is that okay?
Well, for one thing “Nervous Tick” isn’t my actual name, and I wouldn’t put that on my application, so it’s unlikely they would know to ask. The point being, Free Republic is a different beast than FaceBook, which as I understand is a “forum” wherein you ADVERTISE who you are and what you’re into, using your real name. There’s less expectation to privacy when you’re writing your life on a wall in public view, and signing your name to it.
But back to the thrust of your question. What if “tell us all forums you participate in and give us your nick and password” was a generic question on their application? Is that “OK” with me if they ask? Sure. As far as I am concerned a potential employer can ask me anything they want to know.
If I don’t want to tell them, I’ll respectfully decline (and expect not to get the job). If it bothers me that they ask in the first place, I’ll politely excuse myself from the interview. Or, if I need the job that badly — unlikely, since I’m quasi-retired and run my own business but it *could* happen — I might give them the information they’re asking for.
Employment is (or at least should be) a voluntary decision by both parties. As such, it’s “okay” for each party to ask what they need to know of the other — and it’s “okay” for the asked party to answer, or not, as it suits them. The employer “owes” no candidate a job (or privacy, or anything else) other than honest representation, and the candidate “owes” the employer nothing but honesty as well.
I’m astonished by the number of supposed conservatives who think otherwise, frankly.
Yep!
If an employer let’s good people walk out of their office over a power trip, well... they deserve the crappy people they are forced to hire.
They won’t last forever though. And probably sit back and blame someone else for their business failing.
As far as well funded corporations, I don't think it would go to a jury unless they want to defend it at all costs. If it gets passed a dismissal motion, it will probably be settled. Most corporations don't want bad press that comes with a trial. They are afraid of juries. Most plaintiffs will be happy to move on with a settlement. Less time and less expenses. I'd give the scenarios and let the client decide.
Personally, I think whoever is asking for passwords is just asking for it. If I'm hiring for my business, I'm not going to ask for that stuff, but I would have a no-facebook/twitter policy on company time.
Now that is funny...but I agree with you.
Not legal.
I’ve been using that for years. I’m laughing at myself.
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