BART PERKINS
Social Media Passwords
In Jeopardy
Even if you’d
show your
Facebook
account to
your grandmother, an
employer
demanding
your password is
intolerable.
PASSWORDS ARE LIKE POLICE DOGS: They belong to one person. But the sanctity of passwords is being breached. Some HR staffers and recruiters have asked job candidates for their passwords to Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. Hiring managers
Bart Perkins is
managing partner
at Louisville, Ky.-based Leverage
Partners, which helps
organizations invest
well in IT. Contact
him at BartPerkins@
LeveragePartners.com.
have asked applicants to log on to social networking sites during interviews in order to review the
interviewee’s online activities. And some companies have policies that require employees to be
Facebook “friends” with their HR liaisons.
Such scrutiny may be acceptable for job hunters
who will need high-level government security clearance, but it’s an unwarranted invasion of privacy
for most people. Even if you’re comfortable showing
everything in your Facebook account to your grandmother, this type of intrusive demand is insulting
and intolerable. Job candidates should fight back,
and employers should think about the consequences.
Employers may claim that reviewing social
media activity helps them make the right choices in
expensive hiring decisions. But they should consider
the following potential ramifications:
candidate could be dating someone the interviewer
knows, or supporting (or attacking) the interview-
er’s favorite charity or political organization. Such
scenarios could unfairly sway hiring decisions.
