How Social Media Can Kill Your Chances of Landing That Job [Infographic]

Looking at public, unprotected online profiles is one thing. But, I have read several articles and comments from users, who claim that employers are asking applicants to friend them on Facebook, so they can view their profiles. To me this seems unethical and borderline illegal. I don't think it is illegal to ask an applicant their height, weight, age, race, place of origin, sexual preference, religious beliefs or political affiliations. But, most companies strongly warn their management teams not to even ask those types of questions, because it IS illegal to deny someone employment, based on the answers to those questions. If I were a legal consultant for a large corporation, I would advise the HR department not to ask people for access to their social media accounts. Sooner or later, some hot shot lawyer is going to be smart enough to figure out a way get a big pay day for their client, while setting legal precedence for suing companies who deny employment based on information gathered from social media sites. If you think about it, an employer might actually be able to figure out all of the aforementioned information, just by looking at someone's Facebook profile. I remember telling a guy once in a interview, that he shouldn't have asked me how old I was. He was surprised when I told him why not. I told him I had been a supervisor and I had a lot of training on performing interviews. Then I listed all of the things you should never ask an applicant. He listened, because he never had any training on how to properly perform an interview. I told him, "It's OK, you're still safe not to hire me, because I'm not going to answer the question. As long as I don't answer, you're good to go, on giving me the axe". I ended up getting the job. A few months later, the HR department started interview training classes for their managers. Make no mistake, viewing social media profiles is type of spying and it is an attempt to discriminate in a legal way. It's actually a very shady practice.

This is really sad, because what this article is really saying is that there is no trust amongst employers and employees anymore. I would never screen prospective applicants based on their social media websites, why ? Because what a person does on their " off" time has nothing to do with how productive they will be during their work schedule. It is also so sad that employers are willing to give up on anyone who may be a great attribute to the company, based on their personal opinions about what the prospective employee's physical appearance is like. If our nation would work together and realize that a persons ethics and work performance has nothing to do with whether or not they have a " tattoo or not" our nation would not be in a recession. This is just plain silly and petty to assume someone who has a " tattoo" or a piercing is going to be a bad worker, or an un-educated, bothersome employee. I own a business and will never resort to this type of discrimination, and will never check candidate's personal media websites to screen them. Employers have insurance and protection and should not be afraid to take a risk by using sound judgment, when hiring a candidate.

facebook is done"

Social media sites does not kill your chances of landing a job, it is the people who put inapproiate pics, status, and have friends with crazy names on them. Smart people that use social media sites only use for networking and business purposes only.

If U r private how do they screen U anyway? I mean how do they get into your account to screen U at all if your private?

Having a wild child online friend posting in-appropriate things about you is right upthere with having facial/visible tattoos and visible piercings, using foul language, a mo-hawk hair style, gold diamond studded teeth, a giant gold neck chain, etc. If I interview someone like this, even with impeccable qualifications and good personality, I don't call them back. Why ? That kind of a look will damage business.

Wow 6 comments.

if it has nothing to do with work --it should not be a problem ---

I dont use social media sites and never will. To think one feels they have to post every minute of every day what they are doing is pathetic. It just shows that alot of people don't know how to communicate in person or to scared to. Besides, big brother doesnt need to know when I take a shower or when I walk my pooch.

My first inclination is to say this is all wrong. But on the other hand, everything you put out there on the wonderful world wide web is public and everybody can look at it. As much as some people love to post all kinds of crap on their social media sites, you can be judged by that. When I first got laid off, I put some rather unflattering comments about my former boss on my Facebook page, but then I realized that any prospective employer could see it.