Posted by Joe Alonzo, Director of eDiscovery/Computer Forensics at the Glenmont Group
STOP reading this now if you think the Apple Macintosh computer, Norm from Cheers, Duran Duran, or Police Academy is mentioned in this blog. (all very cool things IMO – well maybe not Duran Duran)
I recently read an article that was slightly disturbing; Big Brother came to mind when reading through this piece. It described a few interview situations, one in particular where a candidate applied for a non-government job and was asked for his Facebook login and password during the interview process. The candidate refused and withdrew his application stating he did not want to work for a company that would seek such personal information.
The article described another instance where a candidate was interviewing for a job in a correctional facility, again the candidate was asked for his Facebook password. The reason given was that because this was a government position, and it was necessary to see if this person had any gang affiliations. Although the candidate complied with their request, he felt this was intrusive to his privacy however he needed to feed his family. 
Some candidates do not have the luxury of saying no to such invasive acts of screening in job markets where the opportunities are not as prevalent as the legal technology space.
This statement from a career coach ties into an earlier blog of mine titled “Be careful what you say”… E. Chandlee Bryan, a career coach and co-author of the book “The Twitter Job Search Guide,” said job seekers should always be aware of what’s on their social media sites and assume someone is going to look at it.
While I believe E. Chandlee Bryan’s idea to be true, especially when applying for new positions, the idea of looking closely at an applicant’s personal life is considered a huge invasion of privacy by many. I do not expect this practice to gain popularity as time goes on.
Please comment!
