Update: Asked For Your Facebook Password On Job Interviews?

See Facebook's response to what's become a national conversation, in the link below.

Wait a minute. You're used to being asked for your resume and references. What's this about your Facebook information?

According to a recent posting on ‘TheRedTape Chronicles’,  last year, job applicants at the Maryland Department of Corrections were asked to provide their Facebook logins and passwords. A complaint from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) stopped this practice.

But now applicants are being asked to log into their Facebook accounts (and other social media sites) during the interview. This is so that their potential employer can see what they post and who their friends are. Although this is not a requirement, most applicants feel pressured to comply out of fear of not passing the interview.

Would you enjoy sitting in an interview and watching your potential employer paging through your pictures of the family reunion or reading your latest rant on
politics?

I put this question to some of my Twitter followers. One of my colleagues replied
that he was fine with it. Reviewing his Facebook page would only show that he
has many friends and a good sense of humor. Yet I wonder: what if his potential
employer didn't like his humor?

I've often given advice concerning personal brand, professional brand and how social media really brings these two together. Whether you are asked to sign on to Facebook during an interview or not, it is very easy for future employers to
find you online.

There used to be a saying about emails, “Do not put anything in an email that you would not want to see on the front page of the newspaper.” Privacy settings aside, I think an update to that expression is, “Do not post anything online that you do not want to be seen on the front page of Yahoo or Google or Patch.com.”

What do you think? Should you have to pass a ‘social media’ acceptability test to gain employment?

If you have a question about the human side of the workplace, just Ask Margaret by sending your questions to Ask@MargaretMeloni.com.

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/facebook-responds-to-ap-story-about-employers-demanding-passwords-from-job-seekers_b57246