Employers Aren’t Likely to Ask for Your Facebook Password

Reader Comments
Back to blog

Regarding the polygraph test-- my friend in high school had to take one just to apply for a job in a small children's store. The owner claimed he used that in lieu of an interview. Creepy.

Robin of 9:09AM April 10, 2012

About 20 years ago, I applied for a summer job as a salesclerk in a candy shop within a Chicago suburb. After I turned in the application the manager sat down with me to discuss the position and inform me of one of the conditions of employment - get ready for this- I'm not joking.. a polygraph test. I laughed assuming he was being satirical, but after a moment understood he was dead serious. Legislation been passed since then prohibiting the use of polygraph tests for pre-employment screening. My point here is that although employer requests for full facebook access is rare, they can and will happen. To simply ignore it and tell people to look for a job elsewhere or suggest providing a link to your public profile is not adequate - Laws need to be put in place prohibiting these kinds of practices before they do become commonplace.

LK of AZ 10:20PM April 09, 2012

Understanding your rights as a job seeker, and as an employer, is very important. At no point should any individual be subject to handing over a personal account of any kind. Asking for your Facebook account is no different than asking for your email, or even your bank account information.
However, there is room for best practices in using social media to pre-screen candidates. While using social media as a gauge in the hiring process can potentially cause many issues, it is hard for a company to ignore such a large facet of who we are.
I think that there will be many developments in this as the job search, and who we are as individuals, becomes more integrated with the web. Individuals do not wish their online presence to be under scrutiny in any way. However, with so much of the world representing themselves online, connected across so many mediums, it is hard to not be exposed.

The Vesume Group of MA 4:38PM April 09, 2012

Recently went to apply for a job online when, on the first page, it required my social security number. On top of that it wasn't even a secure site, despite the claim that it was safe.
While a warning sign, I am still interested in the job. I'm going to call the HR people about this and hope it's simple ignorance. Just hate to think of all the people blindly entering personal information all this time.

cavalier of WV 12:06PM April 09, 2012