Employers should be allowed use of social accounts for hiring decisions
Since the advent of the Internet, people use more and more social networking accounts. These includes accounts like MySpace, YouTube, and Facebook, as well as, Twitter and other social networking. It is a widely debated topic, whether or not employees should be allowed to use the information from these accounts as the basis for hiring or firing employees.All too often, because people believe their accounts on MySpace, YouTube, and Facebook are "personal accounts" that other people should not be able to use them for making judgments. However, careless use of these accounts can and should result in action by employers. Whether we like to think about it or not, character does matter in our jobs.One of the many challenges of these social networking accounts, is that while you may be able to control what you post you cannot control what your friends post or in fact, what their friends post. Some of this information could in fact wind up on your "wall". The challenge for employers is wading through the "practical joke" and reality.While perhaps it is of little importance what is going on outside work for a factory worker who does little more than deal with machines, there are industries when you are outside judgment does matter. For just a moment, let us consider a schoolteacher for example. If the schoolteacher has an account on MySpace, YouTube, or Facebook and suddenly a school administrator sees inappropriate language, or photographs for instance it certainly can be a matter of concern. After all, these people are dealing with young and impressionable children.While it may be fair to argue that what a person does in their "off time" does not and should not have an impact on their work, it does have an impact on the "image" of the employer. As an extreme, let us take a look at what would happen if somebody was working for the Democratic National Convention Committee, and somebody checked their YouTube,Facebook, or MySpace account and discovered most of the people that they were interacting with were members of the Republican Party. It is a pretty good chance, this could be problematic.When it comes to making a decision to hire a new employee, employers must base their decision on not only skills, but of the character of the person. People who feel that their private lives should not matter when it comes to work should avoid making their private lives public information.In this day of electronic information, people tend to share far more information than they might otherwise share. In fact, it is highly likely you could Google your name and find information such as your date of birth, current marriage, number of children, etc. With this amount of information out there, if anyone thinks for one moment that a potential employer would not look up this information they must be incredibly naïve.Another argument commonly heard is that oftentimes videos or even blog posts are created in the "heat of the moment" and not something that would normally be part of a person's character. And while this is not necessarily problematic, the fact that somebody elects to share that information publicly can be problematic. If there is information that you do not want considered as part of your ability to be hired or fired from a job, the bottom line is that should not be part of the public record.Whether we like to think about it or not, one aspect of the Internet is a lack of privacy. Once something gets put onto the Internet, it isbasically a matter of public record. If you are concerned about a potential employer using information from your YouTube, MySpace, Facebook accounts, do not put it up there. Make sure you discuss with any of your "friends" who are hooked up with you on these networks what type of information is appropriate and inappropriate. Do not jeopardize your future over a social network.
