Is it normal i think a job looking for your facebook should be a violation?

65% Normal
27 Comments

I have just thought about this. Tell me if you agree with this or not. Jobs doing a background check it perfectly normal. They do not want to hire a rapist, killer, pedophile and so on. I understand this completely. However I know on a job application they are not suppose to ask you about your family as part of a interview. So why can they search your Facebook? Do they really need to know what your uncle and aunt and sisters are doing. If your uncle you never talk to anymore is in prison. What political party you are with. If you are single or not. Where you usually go to drink Saturday nights. If you are gay and do not tell people outside your family. I mean is this not a gross invasion of privacy? What about people with a fake Facebook based on a character? Since a couple people have those.

Voting Results
65% Normal
Based on 81 votes (53 yes)
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Comments ( 27 )
  • shade_ilmaendu
    11 years ago

    It is an invasion of privacy and it allows too much room for discrimination. Employer doesn't agree with your sexuality, with your political party, with that post you made last weekend? They can just fire you.

    Before the advent of the internet and media you had your work life and your personal life and it was easy to disconnect them. Now just becasue we have the internet and the information is out there shouldn't mean that we lose all acess to our privacy. My facebook is set to friends only and I use a pseudonym even there, as well as on every website I'm active on, but they can ask for your password in some places if your info is set to private.

    I don't think what you do in your free time or your personal life should have any bearing on your employment eligibility. It's just too irrelevant.

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  • Justsomejerk
    11 years ago

    Simple, if there are things you don't want people to know about you, don't put them on the Internet.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago

      That has nothing to do with it. If a employer can not look into your family history why can they look up your Facebook with all family ties. Do they need to know what your grandmother does on her weekends. If your little brother goes to Franklin high school. If your dad was arrested? Does that really have anything to do with your performance? You can not control what family you are born into. I think a few people would not want the boss looking up some of the things they ask here.

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      • Justsomejerk
        11 years ago

        This is an anonymous website. If you make information public, you can't complain about people looking at that information.

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        • Anonymous Post Author
          11 years ago

          Well would you like someone being able to hack your email and looking at all that? Is that not suppose to be private?

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          • Justsomejerk
            11 years ago

            No, I wouldn't, but that is not the point you made in your poll.

            I don't have spacebook because I don't need social validation at the expense of my privacy.

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            • Anonymous Post Author
              11 years ago

              I think finding a Facebook is still an invasion of your privacy. You can put it to private and they will still find you. It is the same as them checking your email and any other account on the internet.

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      • lizieralizard
        11 years ago

        i doubt employers are looking at your grandmother's posts. they prob just want to see if u are snorting cocaine on the wknds and posting raunchy pics of yourself in your bathroom mirror.

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        • Anonymous Post Author
          11 years ago

          Yes but they by law are not allowed to search that. You can not ask that in a interview. If you do it is an illegal question. So by doing this they technically broke the rule. Also they are seeing if you snort crack since they do not want people doing drugs on the job. I think that would be a given. Checking up on you and your family is wrong.

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      • musicman124
        11 years ago

        I have spoken with HR representatives who check Facebook when they are evaluating potential hires. They say that the only things they are really looking for are indicators that they would not be a good fit for the job. For example, if you are applying for a management position, it would not look good for the employer to see pictures of you getting drunk last weekend, since that kind of irresponsibility would preclude you from doing the job well. So to answer your question, they really don't care what your brother had for lunch yesterday.

        I also agree that if you put something on the internet publicly (remember, you can choose to make your entire facebook page private if you wish), it means that you are willing to share that information with anyone in the world, including potential employer.

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  • Avant-Garde
    11 years ago

    I think in some places this is illegal and rightly so. I think it's an invasion of privacy and all the more reason why I think people should be careful about what they put on the internet.

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  • HappyBirthday
    11 years ago

    I think there is a huge difference between an employer viewing your public profile and an employer logging in to view your fb account.

    If you have a public account, then they have every right to look at that information. Think of teachers for example. Is it appropriate for a teacher to have a public fb profile that includes pictures of him/her drinking/partying that their students can view? Probably not.

    However, at some jobs, they make you give them your username and password and then leave the room while they look at your account. I find THAT to be an invasion of privacy. There are many things on facebook that NO ONE can view. There are private conversations between people (messages and IMs) that employers should not have access to. To me, that is no different than asking me to hand over my cell phone for them to read my texts or requiring me to give them the password to my (non-work) email so that they can read my messages.

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  • [Old Memory]
    11 years ago

    This truly is a brave new world in which we live. It sucks because I was really tired of Facebook so I deleted mine a year ago but if I tell potential employers I did so it will look suspicious, and if I tell them I never had a Facebook it will look even more suspicious. If I am well qualified, have good employment history and no criminal record, what warrants a check of such personal information?

    That being said, Facebook is stupid. People post their personal information, but there is no personal interaction on Facebook to justify putting sensitive information on the web for everyone that you know to see, and for a corporation to own. That's right, Facebook OWNS your profile and all of the information posted on it. Using Facebook is just indiscriminately volunteering personal information to everyone with whom you have any sort of connection. People come and go in life, relationships are dynamic. Facebook is artificial. So we kind of had it coming.

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  • dom180
    11 years ago

    If you put those things on Facebook, people are going to find them. It isn't an invasion of privacy if you leave it out in the open for anyone to find. If you want your information protected you can prevent anyone who isn't on your friend's list from seeing your profile information, or better yet just don't put that information on Facebook at all. You can't stop them searching for you, but you have complete control of what they find if they do.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago

      Well this is the same as someone looking for your
      YouTube, or a myspace or your IIN account. I am sure some people do not want their bosses reading what they have to say here. What about people who have a fake Facebook? What if some one happens to watch porn. Are you going to fire someone for a few dirty videos they watch alone in their own house?(I mean legal ones)

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      • dom180
        11 years ago

        If you choose to put your personal information on the internet, you're running the risk that someone will find it. I think it's your responsibility to be aware of that and take precautions if you think it's necessary (by not posting the information). Although Facebook is a little different to IIN or YouTube because you are literally putting your name next to the things you say on Facebook, whereas IIN and YouTube are used with the presumption that they are ostensibly anonymous and the things you say aren't linked to your real world self. It wouldn't be right to look someone up on a site you are using under the belief you were anonymous, but on a site like Facebook which is the polar opposite of anonymity I think it's an okay thing to do.

        You could never enforce a law that stopped employers looking up your Facebook anyway. That would be impossible. And as I've said, on Facebook you can hide your information from anyone who isn't a friend so there's no risk of your employer (or potential employer, or anyone else) finding it. It really shouldn't be a problem unless you let it be a problem.

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  • Terence_the_viking
    11 years ago

    If your information is set as public stop whining.

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  • Parky_Parker
    9 years ago

    I don't have a Facebook and I've never been questioned about it in any job interview. All they need to know is that I have a clear background, a degree, state board certification, and the experience that qualifies me for the job. They can search and ask, but I am not going to discuss anything about social media or my personal life. The end.

    If you have a Facebook, can't you set it on private and set your default picture as one that is appropriate enough for anyone to see?

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  • little_freak
    11 years ago

    "If you are gay and do not tell people outside your family."

    They will find out through Facebook. Facebook is bullshit.

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  • lizieralizard
    11 years ago

    agreed, they should not judge u based on your sexual orientation, but most employers that are looking on ur fb are prob not interested in ur sexual orientation. if i had a business, i would look on fb and it wouldnt b bcuz i wanna know if theyre gay.

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  • lizieralizard
    11 years ago

    think about it this way, if u started a business, your livelihood and dreams were all in the hands of your employees. wouldnt u want to know what kind of people they were?

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago

      Yes but I would not care if they are gay. I would not judge them on the fact they voted for Sarah palin. I would not say "Well I do not like your dad so I will not hire you". If a boys dad is a convict but he is doing well is that his fault? Can he control his family? No he really cant. That is just wrong to judge someone for that. Long as they are not a rapist or child molester. Something a long those lines would end the deal but I why do I need to know if they are gay?

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