Recently the mainstream news broke the story that some employers are asking prospective employees for their Facebook passwords.

This is:

  1. Stupid
  2. Illegal
  3. Unnecessary

A couple of friends have shared their thoughts on this matter, including Kevin Mullett and Anthony Juliano.

Kevin and Anthony cover points 1 and 2.

My friend John Potter from the Radio Advertising Bureau talks about my 3rd point:

Don’t Do Anything Dumb

My wife told our teenagers a couple dozen do’s and don’ts every time they left the house. “Don’t speed.” “No more than one other person in the car.” “If a party has drugs or alcohol, immediately leave.” And on and on. I could never remember to tell them all those things. I told them only one thing: “Don’t do anything dumb.” And fortunately for our kids, it worked.

The 2012 annual technology market survey conducted by Eurocom Worldwide and its associated agencies was released this week. It shows one in five tech firms rejected a job applicant because of social media. People, and young people in particular according to the survey, sabotage themselves with stupid, incriminating content. This content, once digitized and placed on the web, may be there to haunt the person for years and decades into the future.

It is not just employers checking out applicants’ social media pages. Prospects are checking out salespeople before granting an appointment. Don’t do anything dumb.

Source: John Potter, VP/Training, RAB