When Justin Bassett interviewed for a new job, he expected the usual
questions about experience and references. So he was astonished when the
interviewer asked for something else: his Facebook username and
password.
Bassett, a New York City statistician, had just finished answering a
few character questions when the interviewer turned to her computer to
search for his Facebook page. But she couldn’t see his private profile.
She turned back and asked him to hand over his login information.
Bassett refused and withdrew his application, saying he didn’t want
to work for a company that would seek such personal information. But as
the job market steadily improves, other job candidates are confronting
the same question from prospective employers, and some of them cannot
afford to say no.
In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government
agencies are going beyond merely glancing at a person’s social
networking profiles and instead asking to log in as the user to have a
look around.
