Just a random question, but what happens these days if an employer wants to check your social media but you don't have any?

My guess is I'd be a head scratcher since I have excellent credit, a clean record, but no social media.

I think I'll have a hard time not snickering when my next potential employer tells me they want to see my Facebook posts.

In what way would they "check"?

Just say you have none. They can search your name if they want but they wouldn't find you.

My Linked In account is visible but just job history is in there. Facebook (don't use it much) is locked down so only friends can see anything. Everything else that is country specific (I do international projects) is pretty much friends only as well.

I don't think a prospective employer can demand to be friends - well they could but it would be met with "sorry I do not mix work people with social media friends".

Any request for access to passwords should result in the end of the interview and walking out because that means they have zero respect for privacy.

But if any account is public, they might find it and look. I've heard it has gotten to the point that they have methods of looking for signs of substance abuse, and various personality/psychological disorders.

I suspect that if they find you have an account, even locked/restricted, they will require access or cross you off the list.
I look at random people that post on something I'm interested in and see some real lapses of judgement that would keep me from ever considering hiring them or associating in any way.

Isn't this social media of sorts?

quote:

Originally posted by Ogie:
Isn't this social media of sorts?

Technically, yes. Although not in the traditional sense of what most people would envision from the term "social media".

When I was hired by my agency ~15 years ago, they specifically asked for your Facebook and Myspace account info as part of my background check. No mention of anything else, or even a generic reference to "social media". So even if I had a Sigforum account at that time, I wouldn't have needed to include it. But that was back towards the very beginning of the social media revolution.

Nothing happens. Nothing happens if you do have social media either.

I may be wrong, There was a short time when employers did this, but I think they stopped due to the fact that it pissed off candidates. Hell, I wouldn’t work for a company that wanted to check my social media, fuck that.

A year ago, I got a job working at a Fortune 10 company. The background check was normal, the most invasive thing was that I had a hair test, rather than a urine drug test.

After that, all that was said about social media was to not speak on behalf of the company when posting.

Btw, I’m super active on social media.

quote:

Originally posted by RAMIUS:
Nothing happens. Nothing happens if you do have social media either.

Hell, I wouldn’t work for a company that wanted to check my social media, fuck that.

Understand that background checks differ between private employment and government work. Law enforcement/military background checks in particular go a lot more in depth than many/most private companies. Your social media typically is checked, and can/will come back to bite you.

At my old dept, they wanted every employee to friend “William David” the pd’s Facebook page.....so they could watch every thing you did.

I refused, and told them to figure it out....good times watching them squirm...being married to a HR guru doesn’t hurt either.

Last employer I worked for had their in-house media team put a "company name" employee FB page in place. I was added twice by others in the company and both times removed myself.

The company had no business seeing my personal posts. And while I said nothing disparaging about the company in my posts and had nothing to hide it still was an invasion of privacy.

There was talk (pretty reliable sources) that the company was going to ask for social media passwords. My statement was "Try it"

Last Job I took... they wanted to do a Credit Report. I asked why as I was going to be a position that had no fiduciary responsibility.... "standard pre-employment evaluation".

So I replied that there were free to attempt but my credit is locked at all three major reporting agencies. "Well you'll have to unlock it." Sorry no can do.

So the Legal and HR Dept decided they'ed try to force the issue. Told them I'd be happy to pull a Dunn and Bradstreet Report on the company in return. They got testy.

That's when I found out the "company powers" said to sign me regardless and w/o the credit report. HR and Legal just didn't like being told NO. To this day the head of HR is still pissed at me.

Andrew

I hire 911 dispatcher, animal control officers and records clerks. I always check their social media accounts during the background check. It has saved us some potential trouble. Even with officer candidates, we don't require them to let us into their account. If they have it locked to private, we stop there.

Before the internet, extensive background checks were required to interview with the police department. The information collected in those days was rather impressive. This was for a major city in Texas. Bank accounts, interviews with neighbors, an FBI report etc. were all standard. In the end, the best screening was done in an individual interview by someone outside the police department who was well aquainted with the personality characteristics they were looking for in a patrol officer.

If you did not consent to the above, you did not get asked for an interview.

I have a full scope BI every 5 years. Every year I’m asked if I’m on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. every time I tell them I have better things to do with my time than tell the world what I had for breakfast or that I just brushed my teeth. When I tell them I don’t have social media accounts they just look at me like I’ve got a horn growing out of my head. The same thing when I tell them I don’t drink. I’M the oddball because I have, on average 0.0 alcoholic drinks annually and don’t farcebook.

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:

There was talk (pretty reliable sources) that the company was going to ask for social media passwords. My statement was "Try it"

Friend of mine went for an interview with a Fortune 500 company and they asked for his passwords. He asked the interviewer if his wife liked anal sex.

Interviewer said "What? That's NONE of your business."

My friend said "Just like my passwords are NONE of your business."

quote:

Originally posted by SIGSense:
Friend of mine went for an interview with a Fortune 500 company and they asked for his passwords. He asked the interviewer if his wife liked anal sex.

Interviewer said "What? That's NONE of your business."

My friend said "Just like my passwords are NONE of your business."

This is the part of the thread where I tell you that story is not at all believable, and you tell me, no, it really happened. I imagine he then dictated his terms to them, including demanding twice the offered salary, plus twelve weeks of paid vacation, and they hired him on the spot. "Anal sex"? No sane person would do what you've described. I'm sorry, but bragging has its limits, and this is beyond the pale.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by SIGSense:
Friend of mine went for an interview with a Fortune 500 company and they asked for his passwords. He asked the interviewer if his wife liked anal sex.

Interviewer said "What? That's NONE of your business."

My friend said "Just like my passwords are NONE of your business."

This is the part of the thread where I tell you that story is not at all believable, and you tell me, no, it really happened. I imagine he then dictated his terms to them, including demanding twice the offered salary, plus twelve weeks of paid vacation, and they hired him on the spot. "Anal sex"? No sane person would do what you've described. I'm sorry, but bragging has its limits, and this is beyond the pale.

And that interviewer's name? La-a, pronounced, of course "Ladasha".

I wonder if "Ask the NSA" would be a permissible response?

quote:

My friend said "Just like my passwords are NONE of your business."

Next you'll tell us he still got the job.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
This is the part of the thread where I tell you that story is not at all believable, and you tell me, no, it really happened. I imagine he then dictated his terms to them, including demanding twice the offered salary, plus twelve weeks of paid vacation, and they hired him on the spot. "Anal sex"? No sane person would do what you've described. I'm sorry, but bragging has its limits, and this is beyond the pale.

Neither you or I were in the room. I only know what he told me. I know that he was not hired, and he advised as soon as they asked for his passwords that he could not work there. Why wouldn't a "sane" person do that? No bragging involved, merely passing along a technique that someone used.

He did not ask further question regarding salary or vacation.

We all choose to believe what is believable or not. If you would have asked me four years ago to believe that a sitting President would use the NSA, CIA and FBI to spy on a future Presidential candidate, I would have said no. But here I am a changed man. Times sure change.