Employers are looking at the Facebook, MySpace, and blogs of prospective employees, even internship applicants, in order to make hiring decisions. Is this legal? Ethical?
There is not a lot of case law yet regarding social media. Many situations simply have not been tested in court, so there is little in the way of guidance at present. But we do know a few things.
Can an employer legally decide not to hire you based on a review of the contents your Facebook or MySpace page? The truth is, yes they can, as long as employers do not violate federal or state discrimination laws in using social networking sites in making hiring decisions. For example, an employer cannot legally screen out applicants based on race or ethnicity.
Is it an invasion of privacy for an employer to gain access to your profile or photos? What is posted on the Internet has a lower “expectation of privacy” than, say, a private home telephone conversation. Once it is posted on Facebook or MySpace or your blog, the information is available to the public. Therefore, viewing it does not constitute an invasion of privacy.
Facebook is designed to limit the availability of your profile to your friends and only those in your other networks via the privacy settings. If you use the privacy features and believe that some employers got into your information unauthorized, then you might have a case.
However, use of Facebook by potential employers is not addressed the Terms of Use for Facebook. The Terms of Use does say that its use is restricted to personal and non-commercial uses. ”Non-commercial” use means posting information for personal gain, like ads, which is prohibited. However, it does not mean an employer cannot access your information for commercial purposes, like research to make a hiring decision.
What about using social networking sites after you are hired? It is important to remember that when you go to work, you often have to sign an agreement that governs the use of company computer equipment that waives your right to privacy. Such agreements usually state that use will be monitored.
The message is clear: on the job using company equipment, simply do not post things that are potentially embarrassing or damaging to your career.
What about right now, while you are a student? Make your Facebook or MySpace pages and your blog more professional in tone and content and more career oriented. Employers may use social networking sites to look for potential candidates who have specific qualifications, education, experience, or interests. Redesign your Facebook and MySpace pages and your blog into marketing tools.
I have been struggling with this issue for quite some time now in an inner debate that is beginning to make me crazy – a question of whether or not I should delete my Facebook account.
I am graduating in three months, currently in my third internship and seeking a job. Over the past three years, I have noticed a severe decrease in the personal information I have allowed to appear on my account, mainly because I’ve begun to realize that professors and potential employers could see most of it as well. Most of the pictures from my birthdays have been deleted, along with all of sophomore year’s Spring Break and a good chunk of the parties my friends an I have held. Just because we had fun doesn’t mean we had to let the world know.
Les, while your advice is solid – to turn our social networking pages into marketing tools, I fear many of my peers are just not ready to commit to completely changing the face of their social networking tools. I offer up this advice as an alternate for those who just can’t let go (or can’t decide like me)- delete anything you wouldn’t want your parents to see. Take down what you wouldn’t really want anyone but your friends to see. If it would be uncomfortable for your pictures and words to be plastered all over campus on trees and buildings, quash that possibility by removing it from Facebook (or MySpace).
What I fear is that Les has hit the nail on the head – not only does posting too much on Facebook have the potential to embarrass us, it could prevent us from getting a job! Since the job market is rough anyway, let’s focus on something we CAN control. Edit your pages, people!
Les-
First time poster but long time reader of your blog. This topic seems to generate a lot of interest nowadays in the age of social networking as a means of informal communication. This topic is so interesting that I am actually doing my research project for MCOM 490 on it.
Let’s say for example a student who is concerned about their potential image on a social network goes ahead and deletes or blocks their personal information from the outside world. Now we know that is not the end of it because once you enter information into the Cyber Space it does not disappear completely (Google never forgets)! If an employer is really desperate to find out information even after you have deleted it, the challenge will be harder but not impossible.
What if you asked students what they thought about their image on social networks to potential employers? Would it stop them from posting provocative photos and incriminating text? Or would they say they did not care. Who knows… I will find out soon enough as I will research and analyze this situation.
Where does the potential employer draw the line on how far they will go into researching your past (or present)? I see what these employers are doing as an interview before the interview, if that makes sense. It’s like the process of getting an interview in the first place. Person sends in cover letter and resume, employer reads cover letter, if intrigued, they will move on to the resume and so forth. This is essentially the same process, but with a social network acting as the “cover letter” with a lot more intimate detail. They will go online to look up your name on social networks and read what you have put in your profile. A perspective job applicant now has the employer reading about his/her personal life, which answer questions that employer would never ask in a face to face interview. It is this informal comfortable form of “safety from your own home” feeling that the employers gets the luxury of having. Would an employer ever ask for your sexual orientation in a face to face interview? What type of music you listen to? Are you in a relationship, or if you like to sleep around? These are all perfect examples of information available to the potential employer that should have NO bearing on the applicants potential career with an organization.
In an age where public information access on the internet is at a premium, we tend to forget that we have done this to ourselves. We CAN control the amount of information that we enter into Cyber Space into the future, but the past is never lost.
Angie, I am really happy you wrote this. I have been thinking most of last night about whether or not it is realistic to expect a student to convert his or her social networking site to a more career-oriented page. I think employers should understand that college students are college students now. They like to have fun, so deal with it. How many of the employers who review social media sites are non-drinkers, non-partiers, non-playful types? Few I believe.
But I believe a student can make subtle changes that might help to position him or her for employment, such as emphasizing membership in PRSSA, SGA, or leadership positions in any student organization, internships, work experience, academic awards, community service, etc.
I know, I know…I am advocating the geeking out of someone’s Facebook page. Perhaps. You said it best, Angie — you are graduating in three months, so now is the time to make this transition.
On my Facebook page, I try to practice what I preach. My page contains quite a lot of information about me, my family, what I believe in, how I spend my time, etc. But I try to portray and emphasize my professional side as well. I am not trying to be super cool, but to creatively and professionally participate in this aspect of the social media revolution.
Angie, you are so right — edit your pages, people.
Evan, my dear friend, welcome to More With Les. From the depth and quality of your thought in this comment, please visit and comment often.
I was a Human Resources Director for a large corporation for a few years, and what you say in your comment is right on target about the interview before the interview. Employment law is quite specific about what you can and cannot ask in job interviews. But your point is brilliant — what an employer cannot legally ask can be given away by what we choose to post in our social networking sites.
You are correct about certain things having no effect on an applicant’s ability to perform a job, but some devious and bigotted employers could screen out certain individuals by what they uncover in surfing social networking sites. That is discrimination, but terribly hard to prove.
Evan, thanks again for an enlightening and instructive comment.
Les,
This is a topic that concerns all students concerned about their professional reputations. A couple of years ago, I completely deleted my MySpace and Facebook accounts, thinking this would help me preserve my professional integrity. In the last year, however, social media has overtaken our industry, and I find it more beneficial to be a part of these social networks, but in a tasteful, productive manner.
For example, my MySpace is pretty bare and I monitor all comments so my friends can’t post tasteless items. No loud, obnoxious song plays when people enter my site. Instead, I use MySpace to show potential employers that I have interests outside of PR, that I’ve attended leadership conferences, and that I have a social life. When done in good taste, these sites can show employers aspects of your personality that you can fit on a resume.
I do wonder about the legal and ethical implications surrounding personal privacy, and it will be interesting to see how things change in the next few years regarding this issue.
Take care!
Meg,
Thanks for this. You make excellent points. I particularly like how you use MySpace. I think you have the right idea.
The world should see your excellent digital portfolio/resume. You did a very professional job in creating those tools to help market you to potential employers. I have no doubts that you will be wildly successful in your job search and career.
Les
Hey Uncle Lester!
This topic has come up many, many times in my MCOM classes. A lot of students now report that part of their internships has become using their own facebook accounts to check out potential employee’s facebook pages. In all honesty, I think this is completely fine. I think it’s a matter of common sense. If your doing something thats probably not the most respectable thing in the world, then don’t post it for the world to see.
I understand the point you made about many employers being party-goers themselves, but at the same time, when they go out drinking I’m sure they don’t send out press releases to local papers announcing to the whole world that they were drunk. At the same time, if a college student goes out and parties it up, then they should have the common sense to not post it all over the place for the entire world to see.
I don’t think employers are necessarily looking for your facebook to be professional or business-oriented. I think that many actually appreciate seeing the colorful backgrounds of many students. It may even give them something to talk about or some common ground to begin with. What i do think that an employer, however, is looking for, is to get a sense of your judgment, or your lack there of. They wanna know that the person that they are hiring has the common sense not to air their dirty laundry on the internet for everyone to see. Thats a quality that, especially as a PR student, is invaluable. We are students of communication, and we need to realize that EVERYTHING we do, intentional or unintentional, sends someone a message. This includes everything on facebook and myspace. Everything we do sends a message, and we need to be aware of that.
Essentially it comes to this: If you wouldn’t tell it to your grandmother, and if you wouldn’t show it to your grandmother, then keep it off the social network
Daniel, you are wise beyond your years.
I especially love your example of employers not issuing news releases when they party it up, yet students post stuff on their social networking sites when they do. Excellent point.
You are correct, Sir: you can never not communicate.
Go # 11!
I don’t have much to say, but if there is anything I’ve learned when it comes to your information on the Internet, the lesson is: Google yourself! (I know Google hates when it’s name is used as a verb, but anywho…) Google your name and make sure that you or your friends haven’t made you an Internet star. On sites such as MySpace, friends may write on your wall and refer to you by your full name – just because they can; however, what people DO NOT know is that Google puts those comments on their search engine and whatever the comment says is shown in the search cache. Even if your MySpace profile is private, it is not private from Google’s search cache. I learned this after a Google search on myself, and found that an old conversation a friend put on my PRIVATE MySpace wall showed up. Though the comment was in good taste, this minor situation reminded me that there is no such thing as privacy on the Internet. Great topic….hope all is well!
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I have talked with several people who have chosen not to hire potential employees because of applicants’ Facebook or MySpace pages. I have even heard stories of companies breaking past the security settings on these sites. Your advice to students is excellent.
Tiffany (& others),
Wow, breaching security settings to check out applicants’ personal pages? That tells me something about the ethical standards of a company (or at least the hiring manager)- one that I would probably prefer not to be associated with myself.
In the expanding pond of qualified applicants (or at least what appears to be), I can certainly understand gathering as much information as possible to make an informed hiring decision. However, when it comes to making that decision based on personal actions and affiliations outside of the work environment, I think that becomes pretty fishy.
Personally, I don’t add new applications to my Facebook page, don’t consider myself a partier, and have no questionable photos of myself online – but I am a deeply spiritual person, which is prominently displayed on my Facebook and MySpace pages. Should I suppress my beliefs because a potential employer may completely disagree and choose not to hire me for whatever related reason?
I’m thinking that probably touches the discrimination line – but like Les said, it is terribly difficult to prove. Thank you so much for addressing this topic, Les, and I added it to my blog because I think it’s important all students think about this.
~Cheryl
http://rawrelations.wordpress.com/
Cheryl:
You make a good point about Facebook applications. Perhaps the biggest risk to your privacy is from applications that are developed by people who are not part of Facebook. Facebook has a disclaimer that says basically that you use these applications at your own risk, thereby assuming no liability.
Here’s another point to ponder: a friend of mine in Slovenia recently notified her Facebook friends that she was deactivating her account. What happens to her data? Facebook keeps the profile data. But it is anyone’s guess for how long.
Les
Les,
Great post and a topic that came up in conversation at work today. And I’ve used the occasion of your post here to help me with my first blog post of my own (http://michaelclendenin.blogspot.com/). I think your students here show great forethought and wisdom; if only all college students and recent grads had the same sense. In my post, I also point out, in agreement with Daniel above, that most recruiters and potential employers who choose not to hire or even interview a candidate after viewing such material, are not likely devious or bigotted, but rather operating on natural reactions and the resultant first impressions of candidates they “meet” through these posts.
So maybe it sucks that they don’t give you the benefit of the doubt that while you were stupid drunk on Spring Break, you are an otherwise responsible and productive individual. The fact is that when they have a stack of candidates to choose from just in setting up initial interviews, let alone in hiring, that view of you is part of their consideration whether they want it to be or not. Want to share those memories (or non-memories, as the case may be) with friends? Do it in some other less public fashion.
And, as also noted above, don’t think you’re safe because you can delete anytime you feel you need to. There are easy ways to look back into time, that are completely legal. Check out the Wayback Machine (http://www.archive.org/index.php). Plug in a website address, hit “Take Me Back” and pick a date you want to look at. It’s all there, unless a graphic or image has been removed from a server. But most text will all still be there. So take care not just with your images and videos, but with the opinions you state.
Finally, I’m ashamed to say I’ve been away a while from the blog, but happy to be back and catching up again.
michael clendenin
Hmm, a conundrum indeed. WIth social networking, it seems that the division between our professional and personal lives is blurred even more, for better or worse. On one hand, I WANT potential employers to look at my Facebook profile and say “hey, this seems like a nice girl, fun personality, sense of humor, not a homebody but clearly responsible.” I like to think it adds dimension to my character outside of what a one or two page resume can say.
On the other hand, I’d hate to think that because of a misinterpretation of a photo or comment, or my affiliation wth a particular group or person, a potential employer would turn me away. Not fair. I would say it’s up to employers to be responsible and judge candidates on the relevant details and ignore the rest, but I recognize that we’re human and eliminating all biases is impossible.
So I keep my Facebook a representation of myself for both professional and social purposes. Fortunately, because I don’t want social acquaintances to think poorly of me anymore than future employers, I’ve posted only material that I feel comfortable sharing with a public audience.
In summary (sorry this comment is so looong) I think it’s possible to maintain a social networking profile that respects not only the hiring practices of employers but also ourselves as unique, fun people with a bona-fide social life.
I saw an interesting development this week that should be considered in a discussion about blogs. It is how Cisco Systems has reacted to one of its employees personal blogs. Cisco is saying that if you comment about any aspect of company business or any policy issue where you have responsibility, you must clearly identify yourself as a Cisco employee and write a disclaimer that your views are your own and not those of Cisco. Dell Computers has a similar policy but they do not seem to request the disclaimer. I see this type of policy as sensible in some aspects. I think you should identify yourself as a company employee whenever you speak on an issue that you personally deal with, in a company. It is a sticky situation because companies should not be in the business of curbing a person’s freedom of speech. I especially feel this way when a person’s work is not involved with a particular issue. However, I do understand the company point of view when damage occurs from an employee’s comments. All of us should realize companies look at what employees say online. I don’t like this, but I do understand the reasons why. Clearcut policies, like those written by Dell Computers are very helpful to employees and I hope more companies articulate these and make them well known to employees. For more information, see the article discussing this issue at: http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9903070-7.html?tag=bl
Garry, thank you for your comment. I am working on a blogging policy for an entity right now. What you say here is most instructive. I, too, think this merits a discussion all its own. More later on this.