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October 26, 2009 By Hilton Collins
In June 2009, officials in Bozeman, Mont., came under fire for requiring the disclosure of private data from applicants angling for city jobs.
On Thursday, June 18, one applicant e-mailed local news outlet KBZK about part of the background check. In order for applicants to be considered for employment, they had to provide Bozeman with a list of their social networking log-in credentials.
A form in the job application asked job seekers to "please list any and all, current or business Web sites, Web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.," according to the news station.
The story ran on-air and the station's Web site. The public outcry was immediate, and Bozeman officials certainly felt the heat, according to City Manager Chris Kukulski. "We primarily got a flood of very -- in some cases, really -- malicious, very attacking e-mails from people all around the country," he said.
The morning after the story broke, Bozeman had a 90-minute staff meeting, after which officials announced that the city was rescinding the policy. Kukulski wrote in a press release that "the extent of our request for a candidate's password, user name or other Internet information appears to have exceeded that which is acceptable to our community. We appreciate the concern many citizens have expressed regarding this practice and apologize for the negative impact this issue is having on the city of Bozeman."
You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.govtech.com/policy-management/Montana-City-Asks-Job-Applicants-for.html
As a future employer, government has the right and duty to perform background checks on credit histories, references, employment and education. And we all know the advice, keep your personal life separate from your professional when it comes to using social networking technology. However the City of Bozeman requests for job candidates to provide their social networking sites and their passwords is the equivalent of asking candidates to bring to their final job interview family photo albums, emails and personal conversations with friends, jokes, videos of parties, family gatherings and celebrations, and unfiltered comments from friends, co-workers, and advocates of similar causes, basically anyone they have "friended." And due to unclear requests in the candidate application forms, apparently some applicants provided user IDs and passwords to personal email accounts, and bank accounts. As observed in Collins' article " you might have opened yourself up to damaging exposure and self-incrimination you'd otherwise avoid." Indeed. Rather than allow future employees to keep their private life private, Bozeman violated the very essence of social networking, which is to build trust through sharing information on connected activities and experiences. Collins quotes City Manager Chris Kukulski as saying "we want to know what the fire is so we can fix it, resolve it, learn form it, move on." So learning from this faux pas, and actually using social networking to communicate, collaborate, inform, and enhance trust with employees and constituents may help Bozeman live up to its motto "The Most Livable Place." Now about those pesky application questions regarding tattoos and body piercings
As a future employer, government has the right and duty to perform background checks on credit histories, references, employment and education. And we all know the advice, keep your personal life separate from your professional when it comes to using social networking technology. However the City of Bozeman requests for job candidates to provide their social networking sites and their passwords is the equivalent of asking candidates to bring to their final job interview family photo albums, emails and personal conversations with friends, jokes, videos of parties, family gatherings and celebrations, and unfiltered comments from friends, co-workers, and advocates of similar causes, basically anyone they have "friended." And due to unclear requests in the candidate application forms, apparently some applicants provided user IDs and passwords to personal email accounts, and bank accounts. As observed in Collins' article " you might have opened yourself up to damaging exposure and self-incrimination you'd otherwise avoid." Indeed. Rather than allow future employees to keep their private life private, Bozeman violated the very essence of social networking, which is to build trust through sharing information on connected activities and experiences. Collins quotes City Manager Chris Kukulski as saying "we want to know what the fire is so we can fix it, resolve it, learn form it, move on." So learning from this faux pas, and actually using social networking to communicate, collaborate, inform, and enhance trust with employees and constituents may help Bozeman live up to its motto "The Most Livable Place." Now about those pesky application questions regarding tattoos and body piercings
As a future employer, government has the right and duty to perform background checks on credit histories, references, employment and education. And we all know the advice, keep your personal life separate from your professional when it comes to using social networking technology. However the City of Bozeman requests for job candidates to provide their social networking sites and their passwords is the equivalent of asking candidates to bring to their final job interview family photo albums, emails and personal conversations with friends, jokes, videos of parties, family gatherings and celebrations, and unfiltered comments from friends, co-workers, and advocates of similar causes, basically anyone they have "friended." And due to unclear requests in the candidate application forms, apparently some applicants provided user IDs and passwords to personal email accounts, and bank accounts. As observed in Collins' article " you might have opened yourself up to damaging exposure and self-incrimination you'd otherwise avoid." Indeed. Rather than allow future employees to keep their private life private, Bozeman violated the very essence of social networking, which is to build trust through sharing information on connected activities and experiences. Collins quotes City Manager Chris Kukulski as saying "we want to know what the fire is so we can fix it, resolve it, learn form it, move on." So learning from this faux pas, and actually using social networking to communicate, collaborate, inform, and enhance trust with employees and constituents may help Bozeman live up to its motto "The Most Livable Place." Now about those pesky application questions regarding tattoos and body piercings
It's all very nice to think of social networking as "private" and not related to work. But the merger is inevitable. When the first company is sued because a worker had something in his background that suggested that he was not trustworthy (and the employer should have known because it was on the guy's Facebook page), all liability insurers will REQUIRE that employers look at social networking sites in order to have insurance coverage. I'm not saying that I like it, but there it is. There was a time when your credit history had nothing to do with your job. Maybe it shouldn't, but there it is.
It's all very nice to think of social networking as "private" and not related to work. But the merger is inevitable. When the first company is sued because a worker had something in his background that suggested that he was not trustworthy (and the employer should have known because it was on the guy's Facebook page), all liability insurers will REQUIRE that employers look at social networking sites in order to have insurance coverage. I'm not saying that I like it, but there it is. There was a time when your credit history had nothing to do with your job. Maybe it shouldn't, but there it is.
It's all very nice to think of social networking as "private" and not related to work. But the merger is inevitable. When the first company is sued because a worker had something in his background that suggested that he was not trustworthy (and the employer should have known because it was on the guy's Facebook page), all liability insurers will REQUIRE that employers look at social networking sites in order to have insurance coverage. I'm not saying that I like it, but there it is. There was a time when your credit history had nothing to do with your job. Maybe it shouldn't, but there it is.