What If a Potential Employer Wants to See Your Facebook Page?

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Everybody is talking about posts that maybe embarrassing, illegal, or unprofessional, but (from what I have read) no one has addressed the fact that it is illegal for an employer to ask certain questions in an interview. These include family status, religion, place of birth etc. Considering that this is information that just about everyone has on their page, it would be an easy way for an employer to get around the law While it would be hard to prove that an interviewer didn't hire someone due to this information, I would think an employer would want to be careful about asking to see a social networking page, because it could lead them open to a discrimination lawsuit. I suppose a way to get around showing your social networking page would be to state that there is information regarding marital status , which you know to be illegal questions to ask in an interview, however, I suspect that would cost you the job too.

I agree that I do not want my boss to be on a non-professional social site like Facebook. Although if it were brought up I probably would not know how to respond. I try to put positive thigs on mine even if I feel like venting. But I think everyone has things like that out there somewhere so that might take a little pressure off.

IMO, that's like your potential boss coming over to your house and rummaging through your medicine chest, or disapproving of the number of wine bottles in your recycling, or criticizing your taste in movies, etc. Years ago, before Facebook, you could go to work, do your job, then go out with your friends and get shitfaced. And you could say a word like "shitfaced" and your boss didn't need to know you have a potty mouth. As long as you don't curse at work, what you do in private is your business. Now the problem is that FB is private for some...but it's also public. It's all there on the screen...verbal and pictorial proof of how you live your life. I think the best compromise is the suggestion that you tightly control who sees your FB page. I like to keep mine for friends and relatives, and I'm choosy about who I add. If a coworker asks to be added, I tell them that my page is for me to share photos of my kids with relatives and old friends who live far away. Not the whole truth, but a part of the truth. Then I suggest to my coworker that we eat lunch together and chat instead, "Why interact online when we can see each other in person?" That usually deflects people.

I agree with allot of these comments on here and like the suggestions made on this topic. I would agree that people use Facebook as a social network with friends and family and it would be smart to have this protected. It's also smart to have a professional profile page as a back up. Facebook allows for personal information that have nothing to do with your performance at your job or your professional image you hold with your company, like politics, religion, and recreation.

I truly think employers do not have the right to do searches on anyone. I use facebook mostly to keep in contact with friends as well as several other sites and we can't control what our friends say. For example, I have a friend that talks about how she got drunk the night before and has one night stands. Even though I am not like that, she is and I do not judge her. However, a potential employer would probably think I would be that way. Like you said, we can't control what our friends post. I will take your advice on setting up a new account and hiding my friends.
Thank you!

If it's online, anyone can find a way to access it so always be careful what you publish.

I really would not be too worried about myself, because I do not put anything online that I would not want others to see, ever. Once it's out, it's out there and it can be found. If you do not want current or potential employers to see or know something, don't put it out there, anywhere!