How’s this for fun? Not only are employers looking at your Facebook profile along with your Flickr, Yahoo, blog, and every other publicly accessible webpage about you along with all the more traditional things they look at such as the ol’ resume and cover letter and references . . . but there is an increasing and very invasive trend of employers asking for your Facebook password as well.

So, not only are some employers looking at the face you present to the public (either knowingly or not, depending upon just what googling your name reveals and more) some are doing the digital equivalent of insisting upon your private diaries and keys to your house so they can rummage through your digital underwear drawer.

Granted, so far, most of the employers who have taken up this policy are public services, police, or other sensitive service areas . . . but . . . it’s a creepy and extremely invasive trend indeed. What’s next, are they going to start insisting prospective employees submit to having their hard drives at home checked or worse?

Okay, some of the pioneering folks who jump-started this trend have had their wrists slapped and have stopped the policy due to excessive complaints . . . but . . . that has not stopped others from instituting it as well.

Obviously, given past post I’ve made on similar – and less invasive – subjects, I am very much against this sort of thing. Big time.

See http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/local/022311-oklahoma-police-department-facebook-passwords for the story of the Okalahoma Police Department’s policy of requiring Facebook passwords as part of the background check process for prospective employees and http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/morning_show/potential-employers-want-your-facebook-password-02232011 for a similar policy in Phoenix.

All the best,
Brian