Is it legal for an interviewer to ask you if you have a MySpace account while being interviewed for a job????

Answer 1

Absolutely. They have the right to make sure that you aren't passing insider information about the company. I have one, but I do not give my last name, nor do I post any information that can say what company I work for, so they can't come at me for giving away information.

Answer 2

I think it's legal. An interviewer may theoretically ask any question they wish (though it should have some relevance to the job and to your performance at it).

You may, of course, not answer or you may decide to elaborate on why you do (if you do) and what you use it for.

Very often interviewers ask questions which don't seem particularly relevant in order to see what kind of person you are, what interests you have and whether you can talk intelligently on a subject.

"Do you have a Myspace account?" is an example of a bad interview question, however. A better question would be "What do you think of Myspace?" or, perhaps, to follow a 'yes' with "How do you use it?" or something similar.

Answer 3

The only reason why they are asking is because they may be concerned about you being part of a MySpace group talking about their company. It happened when I worked at a Walgreen's chain. The employees there (including a young assistant manager) would talk about other employees on the message board and make fun of the boss. I do not have an account on MySpace, but did view the group profile a few times and found some of the posts offensive to myself and the other employees. If they viewed your personal, single profile and didn't hire you based on the info on it, than that is a problem.

Answer 4

They can ask, and interviewees these days sometimes have URL addresses they want the interviewer to look at.

On the other hand, you can probably answer as untruthfully as you wish, because the question is probably not really relevant to whether or not you are employable (unless it's a web-site design job or something). You could probably also refuse to answer or indicate that you have a web-page, but it is only meant for the personal use of family and friends. If those statements are later found to be false, they are probably not central enough to the question of your employability to justify dismissal -- and you would have a good counter-threat of suing for invasion of privacy if the employer tried to make an issue of it in that way.

Answer 5

That is a very interesting question. I do know that lots of employers are checking things like myspace and facebook to see what their applicants are really like. To my knowledge, nothing in HR law specifically allows or prohibits its use.

What you have to understand is that most HR laws are written by "case law." That is, someone sues someone else over something, and that precedent becomes the law of the land. My guess is that myspace and similar sites will be considered "public domain" and that the employee does not have any implied right to privacy based on what they post there. What will happen for sure is that someone won't be hired based on their myspace page, then they will sue the employer. The verdict will then become the standard. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Answer 6

Questions in an interview have to relate to the job you are being interviewed for. If you were interviewing for a web developer job, a question like that might be appropriate. Now if you mentioned that you chat online and have MSN messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and AIM accounts, you opened the door for a followup question and it's probably ok. The same applies to hobbies, family, and other "personal" topics.

In any event, it probably wouldn't hold much weight in a court preceeding if you took it that far.

Hope that helps.

Answer 7

I dont see how he'd be breaking any laws. He probably wanted to know because you can tell alot about someones character by looking at their Myspace page. Plus, alot of employers have problems with employees checking their Myspace while on the clock. So if you dont have one, then you're less likely to be on Myspace while at work.

Answer 8

yes because it is in the public domain. If it were a private myspace account and they asked for access, that is different, but if you have just a normal myspace account it is perfectly legal. PUBLIC DOMAIN!!!

Answer 9

wow.. they probably just want to know if you're going to try and check it while you're at work.. alot of companies have gone as far as blocking the website to keep employees off of it during work hours, just like schools. I'm not sure if its illegal but its definately personal information, you could always reply "that's part of my personal life that I'm not comfortable sharing" or ask them what your response to that question has to do with your ability to do the job you're interviewing for.

Answer 10

it question in a interview for a job so they can ask that question. What so illegal about asking? Do you have something that someone might of seen on there that might hurt there company?