With the new Facebook timeline feature causing much debate online, and having a noticeable Marmite effect with users, we asked our legal advisor Philip Landau to look at how your social media profile could have an impact on your employment prospects.
“Facebook junkies look out. Over the next few weeks the new Facebook Timeline feature will be rolled out to all Facebook users- whether they want it or not. Many Facebook users are unhappy. If you don’t get your privacy settings right, Timeline will make it easier for people to snoop into your past direct from your homepage in a way that has never happened before. Pull up someone’s profile with Timeline enabled and you can scroll back through their entire Facebook history. Click on a year (say, 2005) and you can see everything they did in those 12 months to include photos, comments, affiliations, status updates and so on.
After Timeline is enabled (which you can request yourself before it is automatically rolled out), you have 7 days to review your profile and decide on your privacy settings before it goes live to the world.
Does this matter from an employment point of view? Well, yes it does. If your prospective employer uncovers elements of your past history through a Facebook or other social media search that shows you in a less positive light than you would otherwise wish to be seen, this could cost you an offer of employment. There may be photos of you in a drunken stupor, or ones that identify you of being affiliated to an organisation that does not fit in with the employer’s ethos. Perhaps your use of language may be considered too “unorthodox”.
It will be your prospective employer’s subjective opinion that you are dealing with. If they happen to interpret information or photos you have posted in a certain way, and reject your application accordingly, how will you ever know what their decisions were really based on?
There have already been numerous surveys undertaken showing employers are definitely using Facebook and other social media sites to vet job applicant’s profiles, so we know recruiters are finding Facebook a useful tool for making decisions. Indeed, in a survey by Reppler in 2011 of 300 professionals who are involved in the hiring process at their company, over 90% admitted to using social network sites to screen job applicants.
But is it justified? One could argue that many background checks are already in place before the hiring process begins in any event, so why shouldn’t employers look to an applicant’s profile as a kind of “extended C.V”? On the other hand, Facebook users may be caught out unaware without having made the necessary safeguards to their privacy settings. And what gives employers the moral right to snoop into people’s lives in this way, even though they may have a “public profile”? In Germany, a law has recently been past making it illegal for employers to use Facebook in this way (however difficult it may be to enforce).
You do have rights to protect the processing of your personal information under the Data Protection Act, but it is unlikely an employer viewing a personal social media site of yours without printing it off or forwarding it to anyone would be caught by the Act. And with Linkedin which is a professional networking site, it can easily be argued that your profile there is highly relevant to the recruitment process.
Where recruiters can get caught out is where they base their decisions on discrimination (disability, race, sex) from information they have gathered from a Facebook or other social media profile. Employers will be laying themselves open to claims if discrimination can be proven- and this applies to prospective candidates as well as existing employees.
ACAS has recently addressed how employers interact with social media and has issued a new guide that urges employers not to be “heavy-handed” by penalising existing staff for unprofessional comments on websites. This does not affect new job seekers though.
Of course a recruiter searching your Facebook profile could have some benefits. It may show you up in a more favourable light than you otherwise came across at interview, especially if your blogs are well written and show positive interests (whether the employer agrees with them or not). And many recruiters appear to be proactive and actually search for good candidates through social media sites such as Facebook.
But the message is clear. If you don’t want Facebook’s Timeline to broadcast your personal history to the world (whether you are a job applicant or an existing employee), make sure you get your privacy settings right. You can hardly otherwise blame employers from taking a snoop.”
Jobsite have partnered with specialist employment law solicitor Philip Landau, to bring you expert advice on your rights in all key areas of your working life. As a Jobsite user you are also entitled to receive a free initial consultation on all employment law issues from Philip.Philip can help with a number of legal problems; perhaps you feel your employer isn’t following their legal responsibilities, you believe you have been dismissed unfairly or you are unsure about clauses in your contract. Once he knows your specific situation he can let you know what your rights are and what action you can take. To get in touch with Philip, click the link below and he will contact you to discuss your situation in more detail. Philip Landau is a solicitor and partner, specialising in employment law, in the London legal firm Landau Zeffertt Weir.
Click here to here to contact Philip
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