Employers Face Backlash Over Facebook Password Demands

by Jared Solovay
Director of Employer Relations

You sit down for a job interview and the interviewer asks for your Facebook password. It sounds positively Orwellian. Yet according to numerous news accounts, this is not only really happening, it’s happening a lot. In a weak job market, employers have greater bargaining strength, and some of them are using it to pry into your personal life. Claiming the need to screen out drug users, gang members and other unwanted employees, these interviewers insist on perusing through photographs, status updates and private messages. But is it legal?

Demanding to read a job applicant’s private electronic communications could implicate her status as a member of a protected class. For example, private messages might reveal the applicant’s involvement in a particular religion, thereby subjecting the employer to possible liability for violating anti-discrimination laws. Regardless, if it wasn’t illegal before, it soon will be in many states (and possibly throughout the country). In response to a growing outcry, the California State Assembly voted unanimously to ban the practice. Similar legislation is now pending in Washington DC.

In truth, lawyers tend to be more scrupulous than the average employers when it comes to adhering to the law in hiring practices, and we in Law Career Services haven’t heard of any legal employers demanding Facebook passwords in interviews. If you have, I invite you to email us and share the details. In the meantime, keep following this evolving and provocative story as it makes its way through various legislative bodies and the court of public opinion.

[ Note: Click here to read a previous discussion on this trend. ]

What’s Your Kryptonite?

By Susanne Aronowitz
Associate Dean for Law Career Services

Several years ago, I started receiving “The Etiquette Tip of the Week,” offered by the Culture and Manners Institute. Over the years, I have received valuable, bite-sized advice which has helped me avoid countless faux pas in social and professional settings. (Email Certified Etiquette Instructor Callista Gould at cgould@cultureandmanners.com to sign up for the Etiquette Tip of the Week.)

This week’s missive highlights a topic that is the frequent focus of my interview prep sessions: how to handle it when an interviewer asks you about your weaknesses.

“The great thing about interviewing is it is the one time you can tell people how wonderful you are and they are actually willing to listen.

Be honest about your qualifications and experience. If an interviewer asks, "What is your biggest weakness?" Do not try to disguise a positive as a negative with a canned baloney answer like, "I work too hard" or "I am a perfectionist."

Instead, give an honest answer about a time that you really goofed and put it in the context of what you learned from the experience. A wise CEO once told me that a person who learns from mistakes is more valuable than a replacement employee.”

I couldn’t agree more. Showing a prospective employer how you learned from your mistake or overcame a challenge gives you an opportunity to demonstrate humility, highlight your newly developed skill set, and present yourself as someone who is constantly sharpening your abilities.

Coffee Card Raffle Question: Have you ever been asked to share a weakness on a job interview? What did you say? Email us at lawcareer@ggu.edu to share your answer. A $10 Peet's Coffee & Tea gift card will go to one of our responders via raffle.

Turning Rejection into a Useful Tool

by Jan Nussbaum
Assistant Director for Professional Development

Whenever we are rejected by a potential employer for a position, it is a big let down, especially if we are one of the finalists. However, the potential employer must have seen many more positive things about us or we would not have made it to the final round of interviews.

I was recently reminded of how this kind of rejection can be turned around into positive assistance. A recent fellow GGU Law graduate was not selected for a position although he was a finalist. He contacted the person who had interviewed him for the position to get feedback and tips for an upcoming interview with another employer. The interviewer who had rejected him just happened to know the person he would be interviewing with and called to put in a good word. The fellow graduate was subsequently offered the job. He turned a rejection into a useful tool for helping him find employment elsewhere. We all should take this lesson to heart.

A Spate of Summer Hiring

by Leeor Neta
Assistant Director for Public Interest Programs

While many if not most students are already applying for fall 2013 positions, employers are still contacting LCS requesting student assistance this summer!

The private sector employers include two family law externship positions, a business law internship with a firm specializing in real estate, sports, media and entertainment; two law clerk positions with an IP firm in San Jose, and a paid summer internship with a corporate law firm in the East Bay. LCS has also received notice of several public interest positions with employers as diverse as the Volunteer Legal Services Program, Public Citizen, the Department of Homeland Security, the California Teachers’ Association, the Watsonville Law Center, and the San Francisco Mayor’s Office (a very new program under the tutelage of former San Francisco DA Paul Henderson). See LCSonline for details. Several other summer 2012 internship positions with public interest employers are listed on Golden Gate’s Public Interest Programs Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ggupi).

So there is no excuse for not getting an incredible work experience this summer! Please contact our office to meet with a counselor about any of these opportunities.