Employers or Trolls: Using social media to prey on job candidates
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Posted By: Ladel Lewis on September 03, 2015
Have you applied for any jobs lately? If not, you are in for a real treat. Picture this: The hiring authority is totally pleased with your credentials and your interview and you are recommended for the next phase…. the social media clearance. Knowing you’ve kept a fairly tidy public image, without a wink of concern you give them approval to “Google” your name and look up your public Facebook profile. They turn to you and ask for your user names and passwords. You are flabbergasted. Did they just ask you for what you think they just asked you for or did you hear them wrong? That is when you read their lips in slow motion and determine you are absolutely correct. As you snap out of your trance you ask, “Why do you need my personal password”. They reply, “To do a through screening for your background check”. You’re at a crossroads. Do you A) Comply and give them access to your private social media account or do you B) Decline and thank them for the opportunity. Knowing that passwords are personal like underwear and shouldn’t be shared with ANYONE, this is a very compromising position. Law enforcement needs a court ordered document to search your private property, so why should you opt in? Maybe because you need a job. But should employment come at the price of violating your privacy? Absolutely not. But if law makers don’t pass legislation prohibiting this kind of infringement /password bullying, it will allow employers to practice discriminatory hiring practices, thus, declaring open season on the unemployed. For example, what if the employer is an atheist and discovers religious quotes throughout your page and becomes uncomfortable and deems you to be a ‘holy roller.’ They can use your ‘freedom of religion’ as a reason not to hire you. What if you posted news articles or topics they consider controversial? They can use your freedom of speech as a reason not to hire you. What if they view your impersonal online ‘friends’ list and being to ‘troll’ their profiles? They can make you guilty by association and forgo hiring you.
Bottom line, this is the land of the free right? If it is not published publically (meaning open for the general public to see), it should be off limits to employers as well. Furthermore, if material is found that the company deems questionable, the prospect should be allowed to sanitize their page or justify their subjective social media posts. We are innocent until proven guilty right? If my mama told me I can’t share my panties, I most definitely can’t share my password.
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Ladel Lewis
Research Associate, Western Michigan University Western Michigan Univ class of 2012 Member Since October 2006 |
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