Sharing Social Network Info with Potential Employer

[Rated E]

So I'm looking at possible employment with the Defence Force (Psychology). I'm making an account and this is one of the questions:

Would you be comfortable to share your social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter etc) with Defence Force Recruiting when enquiring for further information?

If I choose "no", it asks:

Why are you hesitant to share this information?

I'm just wondering whether sharing the information makes me look like a more trustworthy person and therefore a more likely candidate for employment. However I'm also just hesitant to share the information, because I use Facebook to talk shit to my friends, not really to market myself as an upstanding citizen.

 

[sssssssssss]

Employers are starting to ditch resumes and r moving more towards things like this. Most jobs have way too many applicants that meet the requirements so they want to know if you would get along with the people already hired. team shit.

 

[Jerry Atrick]

I don't have any personal experience with this sort of stuff, but I'm likely to believe that saying "no" will mean to them that you have something to hide.

I would go through my account thoroughly and delete all the pictures of myself getting drunk with friends (assuming such pictures exist) and do some overall housecleaning on my page. I know someone who was applying for a job at a police department and did not report his facebook page to them. When they found out he had one and didn't report it, he did not get the job. The other alternative would be to delete your facebook/twitter accounts until you get hired, then open new ones after you're already established in the organization.

Unfortunately this is the 21st century and employers are getting more invasive in their screening processes. Good luck.

 

[alasdairm]

However I'm also just hesitant to share the information, because I use Facebook to talk shit to my friends, not really to market myself as an upstanding citizen.

do you feel that answering 'no' will automatically prevent you from getting a job? i would imagine that's a lawsuit just waiting to happen.

you need to ask yourself whether this is important to you and if you're prepared to make a stand? if so, you could answer 'no' and, in answer to the second question, say something like "i'm a firm believer in the concept of personal privacy and reject all such requests, regardless of the source, on principle".

alasdair

 

[Rated E]

Thanks for the responses. I think I'm going to opt for "yes". I've gone through my photos and removed ones where I look a bit drunk or somehow unprofessional.

alasdair. I'm not really going to take a moral stand, I just want a job. I don't actually expect them to say "hey man, we didn't consider you because you didn't let us look at your facebook". They'd probably just be less likely to opt for me when choosing a candidate for the position. The implication, in their eyes, may be that I'm more likely to have something to hide than someone else who does offer their facebook. I can't know this for sure, but it's better to be safe than sorry.