When the realms of Social Media and Human Resources are
combined it could lead to a very lengthy meandering of topics. Unfortunately, there is no short answer to
the timely topic of an employer asking a potential employee for their social
media passwords. If I were to give a
short answer in reply to this line of questioning, it would be in haste and
without contemplation. An answer to
this issue needs to be framed in its proper context with regard to other issues
such as the employment market, corporate culture, corporate image, and content
management just to name a few.
If we consider the employment market to have similarities to
that of the housing market, then we know that there are times when it is a
buyers’ market and times when it is a sellers’ market. The same is true when it comes to
employment. When unemployment is low,
companies are less picky with whom they hire as they are happy to get whomever
they can. The opposite is true during
times of rather high unemployment. With
so many people looking for work and so many qualified applicants, employers can
exercise more discretion and sometimes go a little overboard exploiting their
advantage with reduced pay, retraction or reduction of benefits, etc.
Having hired people and having been hired myself, I
understand that at least equal to qualifications is the aspect of how well a
person will mesh with the culture of the firm as well as how will this person
hinder or enhance the image of the firm.
If it were all about the qualifications then we could all just mail in
our resume’s and wait for the call to say you are hired. However, because of these two other issues,
the firm has to make sure that they hire the right person. There are tangible and intangible costs to
the hiring process. Tangible are the
costs associated with first, the loss or lack of a person fulfilling a position;
hence, the need to hire someone. Additionally,
is the cost associated with advertising for the position, reviewing resume’s,
contacting potential candidates for interviews, the time to interview itself,
the background checks, extending the offer, and ultimately filling the position. Additionally are the costs associated with
new hire orientation and training. What
is mostly intangible are the costs associated with hiring the wrong
person. If the person turns out to be
disruptive or just not fitting into the culture then you have to start the
process all over again. If the person
cannot properly reflect the image of the firm then the process starts over again.
In either case, the detrimental, intangible cost to the firm may have lingering
and ultimately tangible costs and consequences.
It is interesting that employers utilize social media to
advertise for employment opportunities and that inherent in the advertisement
is a statement on the firm itself. So it
serves a dual purpose in promoting itself as well as seeking qualified
applicants. So the role of social media
is not inherently good or bad, but rather good or bad in the context of its utility. Social Media as well as search engines like
Google can be used to search for employment opportunities, research on a firm
with whom one might have an interview, as well as to make connections with
others at a firm in order to gain “the inside track”. So if social media can be gamed in searching
out an employer, can it not also be gamed in searching out a qualified
candidate?
The firm, in my mind, should have more power to exercise
discretion and discernment in making the right hire. That being said, there are limits to how much
power they can exercise and how much advantage they can exploit during the
hiring process when the market conditions are in their favor. I believe a business can use whatever
research they desire that they are willing to pay for or that they can find that
is freely available. If they can freely
conduct a Google search, click the links that take them to various sites such
as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn then they can take into consideration whatever
they find. I believe they could even ask
candidates if they utilize social media and if so, for the links to the
accounts. But I do not believe that a
potential employer has the right to ask for passwords to anything.
If a user and potential hire have privacy settings low then
the employer can certainly glean from what they find in their decision making
process. If privacy settings are high
then the employer can only glean what little info they can. From this stand point there are pro’s and con’s. The more that is available the more they can
use against a candidate. However, if the
employer likes what they see it could benefit the candidate over another
candidate whose information was kept private.
The premise here is that a firm would rather hire based on known
information. A firm that makes a
business decision based on what is unknown probably is poor in other areas of
decision making as well.
Does this mean that privacy settings should be lowered or
that one has to temper their content?
The answer is maybe and yes.
Understanding that women are usually more guarded then men when it comes
to social media, I could see a hiring bias develop. But this is “SOCIAL”. I am not saying it is an all or nothing
proposition, but to be completely private with your info in a social setting is
not in keeping with the spirit of the medium.
I am not saying that one exposes so much information that they make
themselves susceptible to stalkers and identity thieves, but there needs to be
enough out there that a search can be conducted and that there is enough
information to confirm that what an employer finds is actually that of the
candidate. As unique as I think my name
is, I know there is a health and fitness authority as well as someone in the
movie and television industry with my name.
If all an employer can find is based solely on my name then it does both
of us a disservice. Additional, corroborative
information must be available.
As for tempering ones content, well you have to be yourself. I hear that all the time, “I have to be me”. True, but everyone’s true self has
consequences. I also hear, “don’t judge
me, you don’t know me”. Again, nice
sentiment and somewhat true, but what is also true is an employer does have to
pass judgment and they do so, within social media, based on content. There is a philosophical way of life that states
“everything in moderation”. Same is true
with Social Media. If every status
update is a condensed bitch session or negative, then an employer can certainly
take that into consideration. Same thing
goes if every picture post is of a bar scene with drunken activity. People are human and businesses know this, so
a party picture or a negative rant mixed in with status updates that reveal a
more well-rounded and balanced life is not going to adversely impact their
decision.
So given that one concedes to background checks and drug
testing or screening, it is not unreasonable for a firm to access social
media. But just as they cannot ask for,
nor should they be given, banking passwords, credit or debit card passwords,
voicemail passwords, or email account passwords, they should not be given
social media account passwords either.
I am decidedly more on the side of the employer, but I do
feel there are limits. Now how does this
impact legislation? I feel it shouldn’t. I feel it could be litigated. It could even be specifically detailed in industry
associations and self-regulatory organizations such as the
Society for Human Resource
Management, the
National Human
Resource Association, the
Professionals in
Human Resources Association, or something similar. However if, on a state by state basis, there
is a need to legislate it then so be it. Some states are right to work states
and others are not. Every state has acceptable hiring practices that are
different. This is really no
different. For it to rise to the level
and attention of Congress is just too much.
I feel the federal level has too much say in our lives already.
I hope you found this to be beneficial. Thank you for the opportunity to fully
express my thoughts on this matter. It was something I had been mulling over
and just needed to gather my thoughts.
