Would you give your Facebook password to your employer?

I remember in the late 90s employees had it really good. It was at the height of the dot.com era and employees enjoyed extravagant perks, large salaries and more. It was an employees’ market.

Times have changed and the tables have significantly over the last few years. We’ve experienced recessions before except this one has become so severe people are desperate to find employment. It’s has been an employers’ market for a couple of years or more now.

Employers have a vast pool of applicants to choose from as they fill a few positions. Some job descriptions include a list of expectations, degrees and more for little pay. People need jobs so they bend over backwards to land something and in some cases anything.

And then we add Facebook.

In an attempt to delve deep into a potential new hire’s personal life, some employers have been asking candidates for Facebook passwords. Really.

One would  think a Google search, reference  and a background check would suffice. Apparently not.

What would you do if you were asked to hand over your Facebook password?

Would you politely decline and then run for the door?

It’s an invasion of privacy. With the less than stellar press Facebook  regularly receives regarding  privacy concerns, they took a stand for their users with recent statements condemning the password requests by employers. A step in the right direction. In fact, new legislation is in the works to stop employers from asking for private information such as Facebook passwords.

Hopefully by now, most people know that anything we post on Facebook and many other social media platforms becomes the platform’s content. The fine print covers that little detail.

Employers who asked for Facebook passwords were clearly in the wrong. They have many legal and ethical ways to vet out worthy employees. That doesn’t mean I have anything to hide behind my Facebook password. It does mean that the proverbial line needs to be drawn somewhere and at some point.

Sure we are in a world of transparency, however we still have the right to keep some things private.

What are your thoughts about employer password requests?