While it's become common for HR professionals to look at applicants' social networking profiles as part of the job application process, some employers have recently come under fire for also requesting applicants provide their Facebook passwords. This practice has caused a lot of controversy and prompted people to demand that a law be passed prohibiting potential employers from requesting such personal information. While you may think that having access to a job applicant's Facebook account gives you an insight on the type of person you're hiring, there are numerous reasons that you shouldn't request that potential employees provide you with their Facebook passwords.
If you work in a human resources department and you're trying to determine whether you should start requesting candidates' Facebook passwords during your interview process, take some time to consider the situation from the job applicant's point of view. Obtaining a potential employee's Facebook password gives you access to his entire Facebook account, including his private messages. Facebook's private messaging system is no different than an email account. It would be unethical to ask potential employees to give you access to their private email accounts, and asking for their Facebook passwords is no different.
Employers who are requesting Facebook passwords from job applicants are requesting the passwords because they are having trouble locating some applicants' social media profiles. While some people are making their Facebook profiles private because they want to hide certain aspects of their lives, most people make their information private simply because they are behaving responsibly. Information that you post online can be viewed by anyone, so responsible people take the time to protect their personal information. They don't want random people discovering where they live, knowing when they go on vacation, or finding out information about their loved ones. Remember that just because an applicant's Facebook profile is private doesn't mean the person is hiding a lot of damaging information.
Since employers requesting job applicants' Facebook passwords has become national news, Facebook's chief officer, Erin Egan, has taken the opportunity to remind users that there are social media guidelines in place that instruct users not to give their passwords to anyone. While these social media guidelines are in place to protect users' personal information, the guidelines also protect the information of their friends. When you require job applicants to give you their Facebook passwords, you can often inappropriately see personal information belonging to the candidates' friends and families.
As someone in the human resources field, you must also take discrimination laws and privacy laws into consideration. If you have access to an applicant's entire Facebook account, then you can see what types of groups the person belongs to and what types of pages the person likes. Having access to this information before you hire an individual could put your company at risk for discrimination lawsuits.
Not only is asking potential employees for their Facebook passwords borderline unethical, it also makes your company vulnerable to lawsuits. Your job as a human resources professional is to screen potential applicants and present your company in a positive light. Asking for extremely personal information such as a Facebook password can cause potential legal issues, give your company a bad reputation, and make potential employees feel mistrusted.
(Photo courtesy of tungphoto / freedigitalphotos.net)
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