Looking For A Job? You May be Asked For Your Facebook Password

In the past month much has been made of potential employers asking job applicants for their Facebook password so that they can monitor or learn more about the applicant. While it isn’t uncommon for companies to look online for public information on potential hires, asking for a personal password seems a little extreme. Since we’re all on various social networks, like Facebook, we have found ways to keep our information private by applying any number of privacy settings to our social network accounts.

Asking for someone’s Facebook password doesn’t happen all the time, but is understandably seen as an invasion of privacy by many, including the ACLU who said the following before presenting this issue to congress:

“People have an expectation of privacy when using social media like Facebook and Twitter. They have an expectation that their right to free speech and religion will be respected when they use social media outlets. No American should have to provide their confidential personal passwords as a condition of employment. Both users of social media and those who correspond share the expectation of privacy in their personal communications. Employers essentially can act as imposters and assume the identity of an employee and continually access, monitor and even manipulate an employee’s personal social activities and opinions. That’s simply a step too far.”

When a proposed Facebook user protection amendment was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives it was immediately declined. The legislation, offered by Democratic Congressman Ed Perlmutter, would have added new restrictions to FCC rules that would have prohibited employers from demanding workers’ social networking usernames and passwords.

Individual states will consider creating their own legislation to protect their citizens and it seems as if this issue will be brought back to the U.S. government again in the future.

There are a few things you can do to protect yourself if asked for your Facebook password. First thing to realize is that anything you share on a social network can be found eventually no matter what privacy settings are applied. If you don’t want something seen by others don’t share it online. That may seem extreme, so Mashable detailed a few simple ways to keep your information more private.

1. - Disable a public web search on your Facebook profile. The default setting allows search engines like Google to pick up your Facebook profile.
2. - Change your (real) name and go by a nickname that only your friends and family would recognize.
3. - Take advantage of the new Facebook Timeline to illustrate the personal brand you want to project as a job seeker.

These are all simple steps to take to either protect or promote your personal life or personal brand if you want to use Facebook as a personal promotional tool. The extent of how you protect your online privacy is a personal choice as we discussed earlier this month and no matter how concerned you are there are ways to protect yourself.