Sure, it’s tempting. Before you hire someone, you would like to know as much as possible about that person, just to avoid problems later. And so some employers have started asking job applicants for their Facebook passwords.

The idea is that Facebook provides a quick way to see what the applicants are really like, what interests them, what their circle of friends looks like, etc.

If you really need the job, you’re likely to go along with the request, figuring that it’s either give up the password or give up your chances for the job. You feel a lot of pressure.

But mighty Facebook Inc. is beyond pressure, and the company has made its position clear. According to CNN, Facebook’s chief privacy officer said recently that asking for a password “potentially exposes the employer who seeks this access to unanticipated legal liability.”

In other words, the potential employer might get sued.

That should settle the matter, right there. Gathering scraps of information about a job applicant is not worth the risk of a lawsuit.

But it was a slippery slope anyway, because most of what appears on Facebook has little to do with a person’s potential as an employee.

You can pick up all kinds of details about friends and acquaintances through social media, but it doesn’t tell you how someone will perform on the job.

Facebook more often makes people seem ordinary, rather than special. You’re looking for a standout employee to trust with serious duties, not someone who wants to look like a lot of fun.

You plan to entrust them with responsibilities and hope that they’ll be respected by your customers and your competition. Then you look at Facebook and find them making insipid remarks about mundane topics.

But that’s just human nature. We’re all a mixture of good and bad surprises.

It would be great to find an absolute predictor of workplace success. Facebook isn’t it.