Do jobs look at social media before hiring?

[garwig1]

I can tell you that when I have it narrowed down to a couple applicants I google their names to see what comes up. I'm sure other employers do as well so you don't want anything coming up that suggests that you're immature, you're a drug user, you call in sick to work just to take a day off, etc.

The passwords thing is up in the air right now. I've never had to give mine, but hear that some companies do ask for it. At the moment there are no laws against employers demanding it, but there's talk of legislators trying to make it illegal. There will be more to come from that, I'm sure.

[Richard L]

Anything you post on social media like info or opinions about sports or hobbies is probably fine. As others have mentioned, if you have incriminating things on there like pictures of you drunk, stoned or anything else that could impact your work, then those things are problems. Political activities might be an issue too as they could jump to the conclusion you will be sharing political info with co-workers on company time.

Also if you have information on their revealing info about a current employer then that can be a negative too. You need to realize that right now there are 50-100 applicants for almost every job position out there. Employers can have the luxury of eliminating people from almost any reason.

As far as giving out passwords I would tell them that you will be glad to "friend" them so that they can see all the entries but that you are not going to be giving out your passwords. Tell them that this is a convenience issue - you are not going to give out passwords that then have to be changed after they have used them. They can see the same info by being friended.

Best wishes.