The argument can be made (at least in our industry) that someone who uses Facebook isn't someone you'd want to hire, anyway.
Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business
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Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business
#62The argument can be made (at least in our industry) that someone who uses Facebook isn't someone you'd want to hire, anyway.
I don't follow - are you saying you would not want to hire a software engineer that uses Facebook?
Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business
#63Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business
#64This is a great "I don't want to work here" filter. If I was asked for my password during an interview I would probably leave. I can easily afford to do that because there is such a demand for software engineers (and I'm not even looking!). Unfortunately for others who aren't in the same position I think it is absolutely disgraceful for some stranger to go through your personal stuff just to get a job.
Yeah, the unequal bargaining power between the company and the candidate is a real problem. Even if the company makes providing the access information optional, there's still a kind of invasive coercion happening.
That said, companies have been requiring that applicants submit credit reports for a long time, so the idea that there's a bright line between what's "private" and what's "public" when it comes to employment isn't quite right.
Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business
#65This issue isn't an ought, it's an is. Every job is a negotiation, and if your negotiating position and skills are good enough then you won't have to comply with your boss's request for your Facebook passoword. Otherwise, you will.
Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not a lawyer, but it seems that this practice is so wide-spread that there's enough grey area for hiring managers to get away with it, so the current laws aren't enough. Internet social networking is such a new and world-changing concept that I believe new laws are necessary to specifically address these issues.
As far as I can tell, the practice is not wide spread at all. Hypothetical talk about it is wide spread. This article cites the exact same incident that every article I've read cites. Maybe when at least a single new incident is reported since the last time this made headlines we can talk about it being wide spread.
I suppose that's a matter of anecdotal evidence on both of our ends. I have friends who have applied for jobs and had more than once been asked for this information- either to login to facebook in front of them, or provide login info. While maybe it's 3 or 4 times that I've heard of it personally, my impression is that it's probably wide-spread just looking at those statistics.
Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree, the topic _is_ silly, because most US workers are 'at-will' and can be fired at any time, for any reason. Many people don't know this or don't believe this. Unless you re under specific contract, or live in a few states with employment rights, your boss may fire you just because they didn't like how you type on the keyboard. Recently, I was watching an episode of Mad Men with a friend, and one of the charact…
How serious is this Facebook business? I personally do not have one, in this day, is this an actual barrier to getting a job? Not being part of a social website? Either way, employers asking for a password to anything feels insanely slimy.
I've got a feeling its a few marginal cases of completely terrible employers who are doing it and it makes a good news story.
Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business
#68This is a great "I don't want to work here" filter. If I was asked for my password during an interview I would probably leave. I can easily afford to do that because there is such a demand for software engineers (and I'm not even looking!). Unfortunately for others who aren't in the same position I think it is absolutely disgraceful for some stranger to go through your personal stuff just to get a job.
Yeah, the unequal bargaining power between the company and the candidate is a real problem. Even if the company makes providing the access information optional, there's still a kind of invasive coercion happening. That said, companies have been requiring that applicants submit credit reports for a long time, so the idea that there's a bright line between what's "private" and what's "public" when it comes to employmen…
I once worked for a company that did a lot of military contracts. They would ask some of us to get security clearance to be able to work certain projects (and enter the 'secret room'). It was still optional and I never felt it pushed on me even though it would have had career benefits. I opted out because the requirements and paperwork were nuts and part of the deal was that the government would potentially track whenever you left/entered the country and a whole bunch of other things.
I thought this was a really nice way of letting your employees have a choice even though in this particular case they probably could have forced everybody to do it. Now you have companies which do not really need to have this personal information asking employees for it. Here's the thing though. If my employees had lots of nasty things to say about my company then my reaction wouldn't be to stop them by monitoring everything they do. Wouldn't you want to try and fix the problem?
Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not a lawyer, but it seems that this practice is so wide-spread that there's enough grey area for hiring managers to get away with it, so the current laws aren't enough. Internet social networking is such a new and world-changing concept that I believe new laws are necessary to specifically address these issues.
But the underlying information - your social interactions and personal communications - are not new. An employer could ask for your email history, banking information, etc. Should that be illegal as well? What about background checks, credit history check, etc? My only point is that I don't see why there needs to be a special exemption for social networking data, if the predatory behavior is already illegal b
I agree with you that it's silly to think of special laws being created specifically for facebook and the like. The problem with laws in all areas right now is that the internet and everything that came with it is so far "out there" that there's no way that lawmakers 50 years ago could imagine its impact. That's lead to now, where some laws are wholly inadequate to deal with real issues that we face.
In hiring laws, it's the applicants that are getting screwed by the lack of these laws, because their choices are to either acquiesce to the hiring manager's demands or lose the job. While it's easy for some people to say "I'd just walk out," a single mother who needs to feed her kids probably wouldn't be so quick to do so.
In the end, it's a matter of the job market. If the market were flush with openings, hiring managers would have to be on their best behavior for fear of losing a promising candidate. Right now though, that's unfortunately not the case, so it's up to regulation to give people some basic rights. In my opinion.
Re: Your Facebook password should be none of your boss' business
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've never asked a candidate for their password, that to me is ludicrous. I do however (~90% of time) 'google' the person by "name" and location. I understand that a candidate's personal life can be very different from their professional life, but the two are connected by a single thread called 'self'. I really could care less about political affiliations, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and the like. However,…
Candidates, on the other hand, need to ensure their online presence is something they are proud of (and happy to defend) if seen by friends, parents, clerics and potential employers, IMHO. The problem is that this is difficult, especially for younger people. I've had various online aliases over the years, most of which have been abandoned because they no longer reflect me at all. Let's say you were 16-18 and naive an…
> Basically, we need to tell kids "don't post anything online under your real name unless you would be happy to tattoo it onto your forehead"
And even that's probably not enough. Look at all the people who regret tatoos they've gotten. We're simply not very good at predicting how our lives or perspectives may change over time.