The more ways you give interested employers to reach you and verify
your credentials, the better. But it's a dilemma if you wish to keep your
job search confidential, so that your current employer doesn't find out.
The more personally-identifiable information you give out, the more you
risk exposing your intention to jump ship. Conversely, the more you
protect the confidentiality of your job search, the more you might limit
your job opportunities.
But there are ways to provide just enough info to get employers
interested, while avoiding exposure. Most employers will assume that your
job search might be confidential. So, they'll likely accept a limited
amount of vague information initially, about your identity and current
employer. That's what the job-search confidentiality tips below are about.
They cover most circumstances, but you might want to avoid limiting your
opportunities more than you must to maintain minimal confidentiality. Take
your pick.
Internet Resumes
Posting your resume to the Internet is a great way to increase
exposure. But it's also a dangerous way for your resume to end up on your
boss's desk! (Guess who might be first up on the chopping block when a
layoff looms?) When posting your resume to the Internet (e.g., at job
banks), you'll likely have to register, eliminating the need to include
your name and contact info in your resume.
Omit your name from your resume or replace it with a generic
"name" or job title, such as
Systems Administrator
Sr. Technical Trainer, Confidential Resume
Confidential Candidate
Name Omitted for Confidentiality
Remember, your current employer's HR department and your boss might
have your street address and home phone number on file. Omit your
street address, home phone number, and other identifiable contact
information too. Most communications about Internet resumes are
electronic anyway. So, an email address alone will do. However, your
location might be important for local employers who don't wish to pay
for relocation. Consider adding your location to your generic name,
such as
San Francisco Bay Area Systems Administrator
sys_admin@mailboxes.com
Confidential Candidate: Technical
Writer II
St. Louis, MO
techwriter123@myinbox.net
Natch, don't include your work contact info on your resume either.
It's a dead giveaway.
If your personal email address includes information that
identifies you, get a temporary one and make it generic, as shown
above.
If you want to give recruiters and
potential employers the option to reach you by phone, use a number
that only trusted people know, such as your personal cell
phone number.
Write a generic name for your present employer. If your other gigs
can be readily linked to you, consider doing the same for your past
employers. Examples are below.
Top Computer Manufacturer
Major Software Enterprise
Telecommunications Conglomerate
Omit attendance and graduation dates
from your education section. Determined employers can find out who
attended and graduated when. That's a good idea anyway, to avoid
giving away your age. Besides, it's not necessary to include education
dates on a U.S. resume.
Omit any other hints to your identity,
such your age, marital status, and number of children. You don't need
to provide this information on a U.S. resume anyway. It's against the
law for U.S. employers to ask, and it might make them uncomfortable if
you volunteer it. Never include your social security number on your
resume. It's not required on resumes either, and including it
voluntarily is an identity-theft risk. (You will need to provide it on
job
applications though, for paycheck taxes.) If you're in a
profession that requires you to submit a more-detailed Curriculum
vitae (CV), you still don't need to include your most personal
details in the U.S. equivalent. If you're applying for a job outside
of the U.S., the laws are different, so you might be required to
include personal details that aren't necessary elsewhere. But, you
probably don't have to worry as much about confidentiality when
submitting your personal information overseas.
Exclude your references from your resume. Besides the fact they can
be linked to you, they might not be your references for long if you
post their contact info on the Internet! References go on a separate
sheet or job application anyway. Just write References available on
request near the bottom of your resume.
Paper Resumes
The same goes for your paper resumes, except for those you hand out at
interviews. For interviews, it's a good idea to include your real name, so
interviewers may later associate your resume with your face. It's also a
good idea to provide all your personal contact info, so the interviewer
can more easily reach you. But natch, don't include your contact info at
your current employer. (To avoid having to keep track of multiple versions
of your resume, you might just staple your business card to the
confidential version. But don't use your business card from your current
employer. More about business cards later.) Just make sure that the
company for which you're interviewing is not connected to your current
employer. Subsidiaries, partner companies, cooperatives, and so on, often
share job candidate information.
On resumes that you hand out to recruiters and networking contacts,
it's probably best to implement most to all of the safety measures above.
Once it's out of your hands, you never know on whose desk your resume
might land.
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