As social media is becoming a more integral part of everyday life, employers are increasingly targeting these sites to screen job candidates, and some have recently been under fire when they asked prospective employees for their social media passwords. While these employers may have good intentions and just want to verify information given to them by job applicants, there could be negative repercussions, says Duncan Ferguson, managing director of leadership development at BPI Group, a global management and human resources consulting firm.
"Most employers are looking at character issues and thinking about whether that individual would be good fit into the organization," Ferguson says. "Employers are trying to see what they can find out about job seekers and if there's anything that could potentially cause them some embarrassment. They want to double check what their job candidates have said about themselves and find out if all the information is truthful."
In a time when many employers are citing difficulty recruiting employees, crossing privacy boundaries by requesting a job prospect's password just makes the task that much more difficult. Job candidates see it as a sign that the employer doesn't trust its employees, which could make that candidate question whether that is a desirable work environment, Ferguson says. If this news makes it around the office, it could also impact current employees' morale and make them question whether they want to stay at a company that doesn't trust its work force, especially as the job market appears to be growing.
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"Maybe a year ago, people would just grumble about it, but if the job market is still improving in a year from now, those employees will start looking elsewhere," Ferguson says.
Besides the repercussions that stem from asking for passwords, employers could find themselves in trouble by looking at a prospective employee's Facebook page because it contains a wealth of personal information, Ferguson says. Much of this personal information is included within the protected categories of employment, and discovering this information could put an employer in a place of liability.
"Facebook gives you access to information that's illegal to use in the job interview process," Ferguson says. "You can't ask for someone's age, marital status, sexual orientation or whether that person has children. Many times people are sharing a lot of personal information on Facebook, and that can get you into trouble."
Rather than asking potential employees for their passwords, Ferguson recommends that employers turn to LinkedIn because it is specifically designed for networking and professional purposes. With LinkedIn, employers are unlikely to come across any information that could put them at a liability while reaffirming professional credentials.
"LinkedIn has exploded in terms of what it offers now," Ferguson says. "It's not just a job search platform. LinkedIn is the first place an employer can stop to see someone's professional profile. It will tell you what groups and expertise a job candidate has. That's your professional presence on Internet, and I recommend that employers first look there."
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