Analysis Of Asking For A Job Applicant's Facebook Password

Summary: Vice president and editor of Black Enterprise, Alfred Edmond Jr.,wrote the essay, Why Asking for a Job Applicant’s Facebook Password is Fair Game, which was originally published in Black Enterprise. The essay pertains to the issue of invasion of privacy or necessarily how far is too far when it comes to a job interview. In the essay, Edmond provides his stance from many different viewpoints, such as, from a potential employer/company, a job applicant, and an outsider to support is claim that it should be legal for a potential employer to ask for one’s password. His reasoning being that if something is truly private it should not be posted upon one’s social media platform. Another reasoning being the safety factor; giving many reasons

states his main reasoning for allowing a potential employer to ask for one’s Facebook password being the issue of safety. For certain jobs it does seem necessary to do a background check, this may include the checking of social media. If one chooses to apply for a certain job, they are suspected to know the job entails; including what goes on during the interview. Not only should one feel confident in their qualification for that particular job, but also themselves and what their appearance says about them, this includes their internet personality as well. It should not be legal to ask for one’s Facebook password or any other social media password, however, it should be legal for an employer to ask for one’s account to be made public, at least for the time being. If it was a last resort, I may consider giving out my password, but negotiating a different way of giving the employer the information they desire would be the the first choice. Quote 1: In his essay, Edmond makes the analogy that “posting on Facebook is just your ticking time bomb version of you shouting your private business from…Time Square- on steroids” (133). Nothing ever truly leaves the internet, one cannot delete something and entirely believe it is gone forever. The common saying that something's come back to haunt you is relevant when discussing “inappropriate” posts to social media. Posting something you want to keep private is nearly impossible nowadays because of technology and