The Internet can help you land a great job, but online job hunting doesn’t come without its own dangers.
The online job market is growing: Some one million resumes and 1.2 million job opportunities will be transmitted over the Internet this year. But as individuals flock to the Internet to find a better job, they must take specific steps to protect their privacy, to keep their job hunt confidential, and to guard their personal safety, says Richard Johnson, founder and president of HotJobs.com [http://www.hotjobs.com]
“While the worldwide access of the Internet may seem custom-made for job hunting, it could also prove dangerous if job seekers don’t maintain close control over their personal data,” says Johnson. “You don’t want your name, home address, phone number, age, occupation, salary — all your most personal resume information — openly available on the Internet. Beyond the problem of your boss finding out about your job hunting efforts, you could be compromising your own personal safety and security.”
Johnson suggests Internet job seekers take specific steps to define and manage their personal data and to control how it is used or restricted:
– Create a personal e-mail address from one of a number of free e-mail services. Be aware that profiles you complete when applying for a free e-mail account may be accessible to others. To stay safe, always assume that any information you provide –including your home phone number, address and the numbers of family members — could be made public.
– Work only with well-known Internet jobs sites offering real job opportunities. The key to working with Internet jobs sites is not quantity, but quality. While one job site may offer more listings, if the job opportunities are old and already filled, you’re only wasting your time. Moreover, read the opportunities carefully to be sure that they’re not generalized offers posted by headhunters or others designed only to trawl for resumes.
– If you are currently employed at a company and are looking around, you don’t want your employer — or affiliated companies — to see that you are engaged in a job search. To protect your privacy, look for an Internet job site which offers the technology to block resumes from unwanted viewers. Such a feature will allow you to choose which companies will see your resume, by either privatizing it so that only the companies you designate will see your information, or by electing to block out certain companies from seeing your resume in the database.
– Beware of headhunters. Many Internet jobs sites allow headhunters to search their resume database. A good resume could result in dozens of unwanted calls from hunters. Plus, once your resume is “in play” with headhunters, your resume, your personal data and your job hunting aspirations are out of your control.
– Steer away from posting personal information in newsgroups or Web site chat rooms. Newsgroups and chat rooms are wide open for everyone to read. Personal data, such as your home address, phone number and salary history, is best left to personal e-mail to individuals you know rather than a posting in a public “positions wanted” listing or within public replies to other newsgroup messages.
– Be sure that your privacy will not be sold out from under you. Deal only with Internet jobs sites that will not resell personal data to outsiders, will not allow outside agencies access into their database and contain all the information you provide within their system.
