I There’s a disturbing new trend taking place in the workplace. Job applicants are being asked and pressured to provide their social media passwords such as Facebook and others.
Now according to recent articles and research this is not a rampant issue…yet.
Some employers want to use job seekers social media passwords as a part of their overall employee background check policies. If you are a recent college graduate looking to enter the workforce get ready to develop a strategy for dealing with what I believe is inevitable.
More and more employers will seek to use social media to screen potential employees.
Several months ago I reviewed a comment by someone in my Facebook timeline. This individual was foul mouthed in her assessment of a local political situation. I asked very respectfully, “Is it necessary to use profanity to make your point?” Her response was, “F_____ You!! Now my first reaction was, this person had no clue how this cyberspace conduct could come back to “bite” her.
She really didn’t know who I was and that at some point we may belong to some of the same local organizations. I also thought because her pictures are also splattered all over the Facebook timeline she could end up as a job applicant in a company I’m familiar with. Her pattern of profanity laced communication in social media is also routine and extensive. She had no way of knowing how many potential employers also read her comments on other people’s Facebook timeline or other social media accounts such as twitter she may have.
Imagine if several years from now she were to seek political office herself with this social media leagacy!
Several things employers use to justify asking for social media info is;
Obtain as much job related background info on an applicant the better. Especially if this info sheds light on the job seekers true qualifications and job history. There could also be info disclosed on social media sites about an individuals criminal history.
Organizations could get a snapshot or picture of the individuals “true” personalty in an informal setting such as a social media encounter where the person would tend to be more “relaxed” and not “on guard”. Let’s face it, most people are certainly going to have a very different demeanor with the shield of being online versus a face to face job interview encounter.
Some employers believe based on social media behavior they could gain insight into how well someone would function in various workplace settings. Things such as working under pressure, ability to work independently, ability to work in a team environment. How about interaction with co-workers, management, vendors and customers? These are areas some organizations believe social media would benefit their job applicant screening process.
However, employers could find themselves in a minefield of employee rights lawsuits. All types of potential discrimination charges come to mind. For example, an applicant files for a job online and sees language that “strongly” suggests providing his facebook id and password as part of the “application process” and does so. The employee believes not doing so would disqualify his application. The employer finds this applicant is a mormon. Since the employer is a devote “evangelical” she concludes this particular applicant wouldn’t be a “good fit” for her organization.
This of course could potentially become a religious discrimination claim against the employer. Employers don’t have a right to non-job related info such as learning about an applicant’s physical disability from her Twitter account. While the use of social media in the employment process continues to evolve job seekers and employees better keep a close watch on this. Many employers are in the process of sorting out how to best use social media to screen applicants while not getting themselves sued. Another issue employers and employees need to be aware of is the responsibility and potential liability of the social media companies themselves. Consideration of this potential liability is one of the big reasons Facebooks’ privacy policy keeps evolving.
