3 ms·
The job market is still pretty weak, and many sectors have not recovered at all. So, unfortunately, employers still hold all the bargaining chips. For a lot of
by jonnathanson 15y ago
The job market is still pretty weak, and many sectors have not recovered at all. So, unfortunately, employers still hold all the bargaining chips. For a lot of job seekers, it may be pretty hard to tell a potential employer to go fuck itself if it makes this sort of request. A lot of people aren't in the position to be picky about employment right now. Especially young people, who are just starting out in the job market.
To me, that's what's most troubling about this: employers have the ability to strike now, while the iron is hot. If enough big employers can establish this as a standard practice, then pretty soon it becomes procedural. (Like the background check, the drug test, and other procedures that BigCo routinely uses in hiring practices).
In a perfect world, sure, you'd love to be able to walk away from a job offer and say "Well, I wouldn't want to work for any company that subjects me to this...so sayonara, suckers!" But a) vanishingly few people are in a position to do that, and b) there's a real danger that this practice becomes so widespread as to be unavoidable.
While I do think the current situation is being blown out of proportion, I think the potential danger is very real.
- eru 15y agoI wonder whether people without an account will start having to create one, just to enable the HR drone to tick the checkbox.
- jonnathanson 15y agoAlong those lines, one trend I've noticed quite a bit lately is not using one's full, real name as one's Facebook handle. For instance, someone named John Smith might rename his FB profile "Johnny S." This tactic allows our hypothetical Mr. Smith to dodge search engine results for his full name. It wouldn't protect him from having to hand over his password, but at least it keeps all those photos of his brandishing red Solo cups out of employers' SERPs. (Also, with the right privacy settings in place, it keeps him from being searchable on Facebook by someone who's not a friend). If the password-handover procedure actually does become standard, then yes, I'd imagine we'd see the rise of dummy profiles and other countermeasures.
- Zikes 15y agoAssuming a person couldn't be found via search results they could easily claim they don't have any Facebook account at all, dodging the need for a dummy profile altogether.
- eru 15y agoA dummy profile might still be required, because of stupid policies. Like you now often have to give a dummy phone number even if you don't have a real one, because it's a required field in forms.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]