How well we know
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 ...
My response is simple. What I do on company time is your business. What I do off of company time is not your business as long as I don't embarrass the company. AOn a separate note, I don't give out my logins or passwords of anything to anybody. All you need to know is that I will not be on facebook during company time. If that's a problem for you, let me know now, and we can conclude this interview as both of our times are valuable.
>> Facebook will give you information... you are not legally allowed to know
Not exactly true. There is some information you are not legally allowed to *ask* a candidate.
But there is no such thing as information you are not legally allowed to *know*. If a candidate blurts out their age, sexual preference, and religion in the course of an interview *without you asking*, you now know it.
And as far as “acting upon it”, however known, of course you can. You may not want to jot down in your notes that you’re not hiring them because they’re Presbyterian, but you can sure as heck do it.
Asking for the Facebook password is probably a gray area — sure there may be info in there that you’re not legally able to “seek”, but an employer could always say they aren’t seeking *that* information, they’re seeking something else.
I have had to advise relatives of stupid postings on their FB that could put them in danger.....me...I would love to play games with people....like say I AM going somewhere, even though I am NOT....etc... (I have a SIL who follows me around on FB, and then reports to her Mommy (my MIL)...luckily my stuff’s mostly political...but, it is interesting to see how people will USE what you post.
Er... No. You can’t have that. Nor am I giving you access to any of my other personal information not directly related to my employment. You do not need to know.
Spellcheck didn’t catch it. I have to admit, I’ve been using that for years.
TY for the head’s up.
“If in an interview with VP of R&D you demanded the company’s password and he threw you out for that, you’d sue and win a quarter of a million bucks? ROFLMAO.”
Your reading comprehension is that of a typical ADHD. I never said that.
Neither do I. And I never will.
This here is reason number 1,372.
Same here.
My issue with Facebook, is that its filled with narcisstic tripe and blather.
(Waaaaah) My day sucks (read: please give me a pity party)
(Waaaaah) My job sucks (read: I'm a lazy slug who got talked harshly to by my boss, and I haven't grown up enough to deal with it like an adult)
Or
(Waaaaah) My job sucks (read: I'm a lazy slug Obama voter, that hates working for a living and am pissed that my Obamabucks haven't arrived yet)
YAAAAAAY!!!!! My daughter, Moon Unit just one the preliminary basket weaving competition in her Girl Scout troop. Next week she faces 3 more girls. If she wins that, she might qualify for district, then regionals, then area, then state semifinals, then state, then national regional, then national semi finals.
I wonder if basket weaving is an Olympic event? I'm sure my Moon Unit is good enough. (Read: I'm not now, or ever was good enough to accomplish anything, so I'm living vicariously through my children, that their successes will reflect on me. Please congratulate Me eerr...Moon Unit, on the great job I eerr...SHE did)
Most of this stuff would be fine within a conversation with a friend or a few friends. Instead, its posted for everybody (or at least 627 friends we have...most who are just people we "know" through sombody else) At this point, its not about communicating with FRIENDS, its about shouting to the world "look at me" and wanting the world to shout back "we see you", all under the guise of "friends".
Speaking of "friends", all these friend requests that people get, from people they barely know (or don't know), I think most of these are just to RACK UP the friend count.
"Hey look at ALL the FRIENDS I have."
"I must be popular."
"People must love me."
"Are you impressed with all the friends I have?"..."Don't you want to be my friend to?"
(read: Then your friends can become my friends, and my friends your friends...and then we'll be SuperCool...Yaaaay, Us"
I do have a facebook page that I created when raiding in World of Warcraft, but it's squeaky clean. Not 1 thing that I'm not proud of so if someone wants to look....shrugs. I have seen facebook pages of people that I wouldn't hire however. See, you can do these things, facebook, twitter, etc if you live your life the right way. I'm not perfect by any means, but I would never post something that would bring me shame before the whole world.
“...and hiring “consultants” to “train” everyone in worthless business fad garbage.”
LOL!!! Oh God, YES!!! What a collosal waste of time and money!!!
HR is the weakest link, by far. Just terrible.
Invasive. Your boss has no right to read your diary, look at all your private photos, or put a camera in your home. I’d rather starve to death than take such a job.
That’s an excellent point! Well done!
I know that my company routinely checks applicants' facebook pages. They figure that if someone puts it out there, then it's fair game.
It started, approximately, when an employee "friended" her boss. The employee was not all that smart, and a real party girl. One day, after a weeknight bender, she listed her facebook status as "Sleeping". Curious, her boss went down and checked...... and now she's an EX-employee.
Sez me, however, asking for passwords is going too far. I'd likely tell the prospective employer to get stuffed. Fortunately, I hate Facebook, and all other social networking -type things, so I've nothing to worry about personally.
How well we know
Why not have them log in to FB at the interview and step aside so you can browse their profile for a few minutes, and then let them log off? Why should they do the equivalent of giving you a copy of their house key so you can rummage through their house at will?
Go fish.
I don’t know what makes you so stupid, but it really works.
>> Core principles…Why isn’t this important, it’s important to me, why not anyone else?
Core principles are quite important to an enlightened employer. They’re the one thing that cannot be taught. Core principles are often the difference between an employee who stays a year and one who stays a couple decades.
However, they’re also easy to fake at interview time... and so most employers take attempts by employees to emphasize them with a grain of salt. Thirty years or so it was common practice to mention your church, your civic organizations, your spouse and kids on your resume. That’s fallen out of favor.
This is why the Facebook look is so interesting — presumably it gets at the individual’s REAL persona without the “resume theatre” fakery that both sides expect. However, as other posters have already pointed out, the social media persona is subject to being gamed in the same way as a resume can be. Therefore, it’s a temporary employer advantage at best.
I’ll note that a really skilled hiring manager (or better, hiring team) can pretty well tease out a candidate’s true personality without needing passwords or record searches. I got to be fairly good at this — maybe B-/C+ level — but I saw others who were much better than I. In my career I have hired primarily college-trained programmers, engineers, and managers, up through exec staff level. I am sure that hiring in other industries and at other levels is different and I am happy not to be doing it.
Proper hiring is a grueling and time-consuming process for a business, and the stakes are very high — TOO high NOT to put in the required effort.
FRegards
>> Why not have them log in to FB at the interview and step aside so you can browse their profile for a few minutes, and then let them log off?
That would probably work too.
As an employee or employer, you have to consider factors which are relevant to your career or your business. Following the market makes you a follower, not a leader. I try to be discriminating, because taking the wrong job or hiring the wrong person can be very expensive. From the employers' perspective, wasting time on applicants is a real issue. But if you are willing to bring a person in for an interview, then you should be willing to entertain questions which may be uncomfortable but relevant. for example if a non-disclosure agreement is part of an interview I usually ask to know what I shouldn't disclose. If the employer touts financial success then asking for a glimpse of audited financials is relevant. If an applicant claims experience in a particular area asking detailed questions about it is relevant.
I make a point of not letting my employer constrain my skills so that I do not remain employable or marketable. I make a point of maintaining and acquiring skills which keep me in the upper quartile of desirable applicants.
Employers who want to be market leaders should not hire workers as fungible resources. This creates an intrinsic bias against synergy. The value created by people working together enthusiastically and cooperating is many times greater than what each may accomplish as a replaceable part. Similarly the damage caused by disgruntled workers working at odds with other may be many times greater than a what a single unhappy worker may cause, and it's even worse when the disgruntled people team up against the employer (see unions, heheh).
It is a fallacy to think this does not apply to your special case. History is littered with such failures, they just don't get as much press.
If you hate it so much, why are you posting on FR?
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