Employers asking for workers Facebook passwords - Sterling Career Concepts

Employers asking for workers’ Facebook passwords Employers asking for workers’ Facebook passwords Much has gone around the past couple of weeks about the unfortunate new trend of employers asking for Facebook passwords either during the interview process or from their existing employees. A recent article by ZDnet.com summarizes recent updates well: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/petition-investigate-employers-asking-for-facebook-passwords/11481 There are multiple blogs and articles that have been written on the topic. I came across two articles written by career professionals that do a good job of providing job seekers suggestions. By John Challenger of Challenger, Gray Christmas, Inc.: http://www.northjersey.com/news/145231405_Job_Hunt__Employers_ask_for_workers__Facebook_passwords.html and by Louise Garver of Career Directions, LLC: http://www.careerdirectionsllc.com/privacy-violation-asking-for-facebook-passwords/ The bottom line with this recent (some say inevitable) turn of events â€" It’s smart to proactively keep your Facebook accounts clean and professional and free from content that might negatively impact your career. Use the age-old grandma test as a litmus test before posting, sharing, or commenting â€" “would you want your grandmother reading this?” Towards the end of his article, Challenger offers great several scripts to use if you are asked for your passwords during an interview. I like his suggested response of “Is there something specific you are seeking? I would be happy to tell you more about my personal interests and activities outside of the office.” And then pause and wait for a response. Challenger’s other suggested response of “I understand you want to make an informed decision, but I would prefer not to provide that information,” is a confident, professional, and completely acceptable way to respond. Some companies may not push past the initial resistance. If they do insist, you will have to make your own judgment call as to whether you want to share that information. Offer to friend them could be a good compromise for both parties.