Facebook and University and job applicants

Ewwwww. Invasion of Privacy much? But if it's on the internet, it's not private anymore.

It's not like I have anything to hide on my face book, but if that were the case, I would A. Do what one of the comments said: "Make a dummy face book account with just the bare minimum" or B. Make myself unsearchable and say that I don't have a face book. I would probably not do B if this were serious, but it's still an option.

It bothers me that my college is now telling us to not put the year we were born on our profiles because when employers see, they could age-discriminate...Same going from my hometown. Basically, it's an opportunity for employers to form more hasty judgements about people before they even walk into the room for the interview. wouldn't that take away a considerable amount of the "wow" factor from the interview?
 
No school or job is worth that. Even in a recession there are other jobs out there. I've worked at a place where I had no privacy and I can tell you the big paycheck isn't worth it for all that. An interview goes both ways.

I don't think it will ever be necessary to have one...where you can't get a job without one.
Not all places operate in such a way.

Anyway, there is now a feature on Facebook that allows you to select the audience for certain pictures and posts. You group people by list and select which posts are visible to whom. That doesn't work for tagged posts though, but you can make it so that no one can tag you without you first viewing and approving the post.
 
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Facebook is probably the anti-christ, and mine is incredibly boring. I have too many on there that see me in a respectful position in real life that I feel I cannot share my opinions. I use it basically as a means of being able to keep in touch, not a means of bearing my soul.
 
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Think of it this way, even if you're Facebook page is boring, if you log in and they see a picture of something they don't like... let's say a "non-white" person, or pictures of your newborn baby... they can deny you a job without even stating why and avoid all of those pesky illegal questions they can't ask otherwise.
 
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Any company that wants this information before hiring surely will want control over other parts of your personal life as well, I don't think it is worth it to work for such a company. What you do on your own time is your own business, as long as you aren't going around slamming the company and discouraging it's sales it is irrelevant to the company what you do outside of working hours. I could see these kind of checks taking place in a high PR job where your JOB is to present a certain public image all the time. Being the "face" of a company for example. However the jobs described in the article don't sound as if they are in this nature at all, and schools? don't be ridiculous, no school needs that information.

As for my own personal Facebook, I don't really post much there and generally try to keep a fairly decent image there, this is mostly because I have customers on there and because it has been a fairly useful viral marketing tool.
 
Yeah, I would lie and say I don't have one. The only reason they would want to see one is if they are judging you based on personal criteria as opposed to professional criteria.
 
Yeah, I would refuse to give it to them or create a dummy account. What I do on my own personal time has nothing to do with my work ethic, and I feel the same way about employers who check your credit report. I know, in some states, that it is illegal for a potential employer to ask about certain things, like if you're married, your age, if you have children, etc due to discrimination laws. IMO, spying on your facebook or other social networking accounts violates these same laws, as they can ascertain your age, marital status, etc.
 
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