DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports Events Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Join Today! Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile Manage Email Subscriptions Moderation Admin Console How to Post to DZone Article Submission Guidelines
View Profile
Sign Out
Refcards
Trend Reports
Events
Zones
Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks

Don’t snoop on recruits Facebook profiles

Adi Gaskell user avatar by
Adi Gaskell
·
Feb. 21, 13 · Interview
Like (0)
Save
Tweet
Share
1.69K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

News broke last month of recruiters requesting the Facebook login details of job candidates in order to screen profiles prior to offering them a position. The news set off a firestorm of controversy about what recruiters had the right to ask for. The debate soon broadened with news reports that a teaching assistant was fired by her employer for not allowing them access to her Facebook profile. This rapid progression of controversy has prompted some states to sponsor bills that would make such requests illegal.

What’s driving this invasive trend is the perceived importance of what gets posted on social media when it comes to evaluating a new hire or current employee. It stems from a study published earlier this year that claimed a glance at someone’s Facebook profile was a better indicator of future job success than more traditional personality tests.

The practice of screening what’s publically available when selecting a job candidate is far from new. It’s standard practice to do research on a candidate via their social media profiles, be they on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or any other social networking platform. A 2011 survey by social media monitoring service Reppler found that 91% of recruiters reported using social networking sites to evaluate job applicants.

So is requesting Facebook access any different than requesting access to someone’s email account? Browsing a public profile is worlds apart from requesting access to that which the individual has expressly denied the public access to. Facebook has already stated that such request from employers undermines privacy and security policies. They went on to say that Facebook would be working to protect its users private information by engaging lawmakers and pursuing legal action, including “shutting down applications that abuse their privileges.”

There’s also the fact that recruiters who are engaging in this practice open their organizations to litigation. Since an individual’s Facebook profile will likely reveal information such as their age, race, gender, national origin or disabilities, there’s not a lot of grey area when it comes to the discrimination potential of requesting access to their profile – which is akin to asking for that information outright in an interview.

“We don’t think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords, because we don’t think it’s the right thing to do,” Facebook chief privacy officer Erin Egan said in a statement. “But it also may cause problems for the employers that they are not anticipating.”

It’s clear that the temptation is incredibly high to pry into someone’s Facebook account, but ethically and legally the best course of action for recruiters is to resist that temptation and ensure that their relationship with the employee gets off on the right footing.

facebook Profile (engineering)

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Popular on DZone

  • The Role of Data Governance in Data Strategy: Part II
  • Memory Debugging: A Deep Level of Insight
  • Why Does DevOps Recommend Shift-Left Testing Principles?
  • Public Cloud-to-Cloud Repatriation Trend

Comments

Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com
  • +1 (919) 678-0300

Let's be friends: