Barb’s Blog » News Items » Applying for a Job with the City of Bozeman
Applying for a Job with the City of Bozeman
This should no longer surprise me, but it did:
If you’re planning to apply for a job with the city of Bozeman, prepare to clean up your Facebook page.
As part of routine background checks, the city asks job applicants to provide their usernames and passwords for their social-networking sites. And it has been doing it for years, city officials said.
On the application, one can see the following:
“Please list any and all, current personal or business Web sites, Web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.,” states a city waiver form applicants are asked to sign. Three lines are provided for applicants to list log-in information for each site.
As the article says, Big Brother Much?
Filed under: News Items · Tags: applicants, bozeman, facebook, google, job, montana, myspace, networks, social, yahoo, YouTube.com
3 Responses to "Applying for a Job with the City of Bozeman"
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Actually that’s not all that unusual for businesses these days. I have seen several articles online and one in Reader’s Digest about employers who find out very “interesting” things about their applicants by checking them out online. Although providing your passwords is approaching creepy.
Yes, I am aware of businesses and even schools using social networks to learn more about their applicants, but I haven’t heard ANYTHING about people having to hand over all their ID’s and passwords. That’s nuts.
I wouldn’t want to work for an employer who thinks that such an invasion of privacy is reasonable.
I would have no issue with a potential employer checking out what’s generally available online regarding me. I’ve got plenty on my blog and in a couple of forums that they’re welcome to read.
Facebook gives the user the option of keeping stuff private or just between approved friends. While I have nothing to be ashamed about on Facebook it is a private method of communication between me and those I choose to add as friends. Giving your password is like giving them the key to your house and inviting them to wander around your private home.
I wouldn’t give password information to an employer, much less a ‘potential’ employer.