Didn't get the job because I like horror movies?

[DStar]

I'm utterly shocked at the moment.

I applied for a job and was interviewed last week. It was a graphic design job. When I got to the interview, the man interviewing me told me that he looked me up on facebook to "learn more about me" and noticed I was a fan of the horror film genre in my facebook interests. He then went on this little rant about disliking horror films... while i was there to be interviewed about my GRAPHIC DESIGN WORK. Anyway, we got to the work and everything was fine and I finished my interview and went home.

Today I get an email saying that I didn't get the job, he said he liked my work but felt my interests did not match the team of designers. (HORROR FILMS!)

Can he do that? First of all, i never gave him my facebook page to look up. Second of all, the only films listed are just your usual hollywood block buster nightmare on elm st, halloween etc.

How can he do that? Anyone else find this seriously unfair? I feel like my time has been wasted.

[chickenlittle]

Yeah that is ridiculous. I hate facebook for that reason. I feel like everytime I don't get a job it's because they looked at my Facebook. Honestly I don't think it's against the law or anything, just a cruel and unfair judgement they make on you before even meeting you.

[Avid Film Freak]

First of all, that's called "biased judgement" and "discrimination."

But sadly, employers are allowed to do that. No, they can't discriminate, but there are SOOO many loopholes for employers. For example, my Dad was trying to find work over the last few years. He used to work at Boeing, then got laid off. He's middle aged, and when he tried applying elsewhere, he faced aged discrimination EVERYWHERE. They basically told him he was too old, but the official reasoning was that he was: "overqualified." That's how they get around "discrimination." They did the same thing to you.



Just think of it this way. If he wasn't willing to hire you because of your awesome movie interests (I say awesome because I too am an avid horror fan), then you wouldn't want to work for that shmuck anyways.


But no interview is a waste. Just think of it as practice. You'll get more.


EDIT: Trust me, there's nothing you can do. You can complain if you want, but it won't do you any good. No harm in trying though. Maybe contact the BBB (Better Business Bureau)?

[zombie]

That does sound rather unfair and unusual, its probably just that guys opinion and no he cant do that. Personally i would be pissed and i would go to the place to complain.

[shart]

Damn im only 15 but you shud report this and i dont think thts rite bro i mean if ur good at tht damn job then he shud hire you for that not if u like horror movies or not wtf thts really unprofessional man i would get hella pissed and fix your facebook privacy settings

[Open Sauce]

First of all....here in the UK the government are planning to make it compulsory that anyone who is unemployed and collects benefits MUST have a social networking account.
An employer has to select the most suitable employees for his company and he could feel that horror movies appeal to our darker nature, and darkness and creativity don't mix.
He's perfectly entitled to research his prospective employees and if you have a public facebook profile, then you have consented to anyone checking it out.

[valentine disaster]

I think it's so creepy employers look at Facebook to find out more about you. It's actually a really common thing these days for an employer to do, as well as cops, etc. I know a few people who deleted theirs for this reason. Anyway he didn't do anything illegal, your Facebook is a public display of you on the internet for anyone to see. He can choose not to employ you if something about you wasn't right for the job (in his mind). If it was solely because of a disability, race, something like that that's totally out of your control, it would be unlawful. If he doesn't like your interests, he doesn't have to hire you. Employers have rights as much as applicants and employees have.

[Skyman00]

People who are looking for a job should set their Facebook settings to private. And not allow anyone to view their page unless they are considered to be personal friends. I was just had two conversations that were very similar to this, one with my Brother and one with another friend. If I were a lawyer for a company, I would strongly advise them agains this current corporate trend of viewing job candidates Facebook pages and asking potential job candidates to friend them. I can't believe that Human Resources departments are allowing this practice. I was once an entry level supervisor with the power to hire and fire employees, at a large, high tech corporation. We received some very good and very specific management training. We were instructed never to ask personal questions during an interview. Nothing about age, religious beliefs, political affiliations, sexual preference, racial identity, country of origin or any of that nature. It's illegal to discriminate and make hiring decisions based the answers to such questions. So, even if it were legal to ask, you wouldn't want to ask these questions, because you would be putting yourself in jeopardy of being accused of discrimination. I think it's a very dumb move to open your company up to this kind risk. The instant you access and read someone's Facebook page, you can find out their age, religion and everything else that we were warned about asking interviewees, during our management truing classes. You are completely free to discriminate against people once you acquire such knowledge. Companies that allow this kind of practice seem like cheesy, irresponsible, fly by night, unprofessional companies to me. It seems like a very small company, Mom and Pop operation, non corporate minded, type of thing to do. You might as well say something like, "So, Mr. Johnson, are you black? Because, Johnson seems like a black name to me. How old are you? Because, your resume goes back a long way. Your voice sounds rather effeminate, You're not gay are you Mr. Johnson?' If you performed interviews like this, you would be answering to upper management, with your balls in a sling. Yet, this is exactly the kind of information that a Facebook page can provide. They might be able to fool a few hundred interviewees with these seemingly innocent friend requests, but I doubt they could fool a jury in a high dollar court case. It's strange to me that a company would let their Human Resources departments and management teams dictate policies like this, when there are clearly legal risks involved. I wonder if they even consult legal advisors before they pull this kind of crap. The tiny amount of insight they might gain about job candidates, by using their Facebook profiles and webpages as research tools, is absolutely wiped out by the great liability that comes with such knowledge. If I were a company leader, I would light my employees' @sses up like Roman candles if they pulled this crap. It's very risky and very unprofessional. And for what? So they can find out if they can talk to you about movies, when they're supposed to be working? I would bet that a nice long meeting with a legal counselor might open their eyes to the kind of legal mess they might be stepping into, when they take the company down this twisted path.

[Snippeh]

The whole point of interviews etc is to judge whether a person will be suitable for the job. If he had plain out stated that it was because you like horror films, you would be able to fight that, but not having the same interests as an organisation is pretty standard fob off.

Also, by putting your profile on Facebook with public settings gives absolutely anyone access, including future employers (and most do check these days) so probably best to whack the private settings on in the future.