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Social Strip Search

Employers checking a candidate's social presence instead of their resumes has been in the news before. For folks like myself who make a concerted effort not to have any kind of social presence, it could put  us out of the running for the position. There is an opportunity cost to keeping your privacy these days - be it a job or a getting the best prices at the grocery store.
Resumes are tedious things - I can't stand mine and am amazed at anyone who can read through it. I have never come across one that got me excited about the candidate to the point that I wanted to meet and chat with them. I love to hear about someone from current or former co-workers who can't stop raving about them, bosses who say they would love to have them back and so on. You are intrigued and want to meet this person and see if there is mutual interest.
This is social presence too but there are real people involved in the process and that makes all the difference. It is completely different than doing a search on the candidate and checking out their Klout score to see if they are minnows or whales in their line of work. I am not sure how much that helps in deciding if someone is right for the job and will work well with the team.
But to have a prospective employer ask that be able to peruse your Facebook account before they make you an offer is outright offensive - this is no different than asking to go through your trash, mail or laundry hamper to get to know the real you. Before there was the internets I don't recall employers making such demands of job applicants. Why do we have to be subjected to a strip search now ?
I am so glad I am not on Facebook and never will be. I started indoctrinating J on the why she should steer clear of social media a few years ago and I am not about to stop anytime soon.
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sandhya said…
Completely agree with you.
10:13 PM
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