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Andrew Murphy
Philosophy 312
Case Study One- Facebook
Social media gives people the opportunity to share thoughts, pictures, stories, and more
using just a few keystrokes and the click of a mouse. When people think of social media,
Facebook immediately comes to mind. Facebook is the social media powerhouse, with hundreds
of millions of active users having their own personal page. In some ways, a person’s Facebook
page acts as a personal scrapbook/diary which gives a glimpse of the type of people that they are.
It is natural with so much information contained in a person’s profile, that perspective employers
would be interested in viewing it to get a better idea about what a job applicant is really like. It
turns out that this is true. According to a CareerBuilder.com study, 37% of employers do check
an applicant’s profile, and a third of those have decided against hiring a person because of
something that was contained on their page (Messieh). Some employers even are taking it a step
further, asking for a potential employee’s login information before considering them for a job.
Asking potential employees for their Facebook login information raises ethical issues.
First and foremost, should people have to share this information with their potential employers,
or are they entitled to a certain amount of privacy in the job screening process? In this issue, the
stakes are high for all parties involved. An employer can gauge the character of an employee
when they are not in a work environment by viewing their Facebook profile. If they determine an
employee doesn’t fit with the culture of the company they can save themselves from headaches
down the road by choosing to hire someone else. For employees, there may be certain
information they don’t want their employers to find out. A person’s profile likely contains
information such as their political views, religious beliefs, and sexual preferences (Smith). All of
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this information is very personal to an individual, and it also could potentially be used by an
employer to discriminate against hiring certain people.
Employers want to view people’s Facebook profiles, in part, because the hiring process is
getting harder and harder. With the recent recession, unemployment has been unusually high
here in the United States. With over 8% of the work force unemployed each job listing is likely
to get more applications than they would in the past. It is only natural in this situation that an
employer would want to use every device possible to narrow down the list of applicants to find
the best fit for the job. Viewing an applicant’s Facebook profile gives them another tool to
accomplish this task.
The cost of hiring the wrong employee is very high for employers. Training is usually
time consuming and expensive. If the wrong person is hired the cost could double, and it would
put more stress on other employees as a result. Employers feel that a person’s Facebook page
could contain clues to what type of an employee they would be, and how they would represent
the company when they are away from work. Status updates that contain foul language or
derogatory slurs could identify the poster of such items as someone who lacks the morals the
company is looking for in an employee. Information on someone’s profile could also validate or
disprove parts of an applicant’s resume, and lying on a resume is almost certain to disqualify
someone for a job. Employers feel more comfortable hiring someone when they think they have
an idea what the applicant is like personally.
One question I have is if employers want to view someone’s profile, does doing so
actually give an accurate representation of what that person is really like? Take for instance, the
following abstract of a person’s Facebook profile. This person’s profile has pictures of him at the
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bar with friends, and his likes include gambling, “Thirsty Thursday”, and various heavy metal
bands. On the surface this person looks like they have questionable decision making skills and
they likely care more about having a good time than working. However, being the owner of this
profile, I can tell you that this isn’t the case at all. I actually routinely work 50 or more hours a
week while attending school full time and maintaining a high grade point average. The point I
am trying to make, is that making judgments about what is in a person’s profile could easily lead
to false conclusions about who that person really is. Furthermore, by using this practice,
employers could be denying qualified applicants’ employment based on faulty observations and
untrue generalizations.
A job applicant doesn’t want any of their personal information being judged by the
company they are applying at. That is why the stakes are high for employees. Theoretically,
someone could actually get hired by what is contained on their profiles, but the fear of getting
turned down for a job because of something on their page leads most people to prefer that their
information isn’t viewed by a potential employer in the first place.
If a potential employer has access to a Facebook user’s login information they have
unlimited access to that applicant’s profile. Some information on the page may be useful to them,
but other information could be something that they don’t need to see. A person’s profile likely
contains information about their political views, religious beliefs, and their sexual preferences.
An interviewer cannot ask about any of these in a job interview, so should they have access to it
via Facebook? Also, should people be protected from having this information be known to their
employer?
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It is my understanding that the practice of asking for someone’s login information is
restricted to new hires. This brings into question the issue fairness. Is it right to hold new hires
and existing employees to different degrees of scrutiny? A boss isn’t likely to search social
media for what one of their employees did the previous weekend, but they can for a new job
applicant.
Part of the problem with people putting information on profiles such as Facebook is that
there is a lot of grey area regarding privacy online. The internet is, after all, a tool for users to
share information with one another. If people post information, they are voluntarily sharing it
with whoever views their profile page. If that person happens to be a potential employer, are they
really crossing ethical boundaries simply looking at what has been posted? If something that is
posted on a person’s profile page turns off an employer is it their fault, or are employees making
this an issue because they aren’t being accountable for their own actions?
One possible solution to this issue is that an employee could make it known early in the
process that they do not wish to share their Facebook information with a potential employer. This
may cost them the opportunity for employment at certain places, but it would protect them from
unwanted personal scrutiny. It could also prevent an employee from ending up with an employer
that doesn’t share their same values and beliefs.
Another solution could be to have the employee share only information they feel
comfortable sharing. For instance, if they don’t want their religious views known they should
have the right to hide it from an employer. If the interviewer and the applicant sat down and went
thought the profile together the applicant could guide the interviewer through the page. This
would give the applicant a chance to explain certain parts of the profile personally, and let the
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interviewer know what is off limits. Whatever the solution is in the end, disclosure should be
involved in some capacity from both parties regarding this practice.
Viewing a person’s Facebook page is a good way for an employer to get a feel for a
potential job applicant. However, it is also a good way to start a relationship off on the wrong
foot if it isn’t handled correctly. Regardless of what the best way is to handle it, there is a lot of
grey area involved regarding ethics. Personal information is being examined by people that it
wasn’t intended for, but for whom it is useful and readily available. Both employers and
employees are stakeholders in the matter, and both have a lot to gain or lose whether this practice
is used in the job screening process going forward.
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Works Cited
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Smith, Catharine. "Illinois Facebook Law Makes It Illegal For Employers To Ask For Logins."
The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 01 Aug. 2012. Web. 09 Sept. 2012.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/01/illinois-facebook-law_n_1730077.html>.
Messieh, Nancy. "Survey: 37% of Your Prospective Employers Are Looking You up on
Facebook." The Next Web. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Sept. 2012.
<http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2012/04/18/survey-37-of-your-prospectiveemployers-are-looking-you-up-on-facebook/>.