How would you answer this interview question?

The majority of you have no doubt attended an interview for a job at some stage. Some of you have also probably done the interviewing.

So, what do you think are reasonable questions to ask at an interview?

There are classic interview questions such as “What are your weaknesses?” (in my view the obvious answer to this question is that you work too hard) and “Where do you see yourself in 3 years time?” (avoid saying sat in a big chair, doing very little but getting paid a lot of money).

There could be a new question though that may be being asked in interviews if Mr Justin Bassett’s experience in America is anything to go by.

Mr Basset is a New York based statistician and according to the Boston Globe he had just finished answering some standard questions during an interview when the interviewer turned to her computer to look for his facebook page.

He had set up the privacy controls on his facebook page so she couldn’t read anything on his private profile. She then asked him for his login details.

So, what do you think?

Is it a legitimate question to ask at an interview? Does your future employer have a right to see a person’s facebook profile to see what sort of person they will be employing?

Or do you think that your facebook account is private and is only open to friends that you want to let see your private activities?

Mr Basset took the latter view and refused to hand over his login details. He withdrew his application and left the interview.

I’ve got a feeling though that his experience of being asked about his facebook account at an interview may well catch on with other people being asked a similar question.

This is a tough situation as whilst most of you probably think it’s wrong to give your login details if you are desperate for the job then you’ll probably provide the details.

As someone in the office pointed out though, surely the easiest way to deal with this is to set up a second “interview friendly facebook account” where you can post pleasant updates on your wall and leave your actual updates for your real facebook account?