Over Christmas dinner 2011, a friend asked my advice about the best way to jumpstart her job search in the New Year. 
I listed networking as my absolute number one recommendation.
I also mentioned my aversion to posting one’s résumé online for reasons including potential identity theft.
At the same moment, her husband closed his phone and said, “Interesting you say that. I was just alerted that a colleague is looking for a new job.”
“Really? How?” We all asked.
Troy, who leads marketing and PR for his company, said: “The Google Alert set for our firm just pointed me to a colleague’s résumé, which she apparently uploaded to Monster.com.”
Everybody at the table stopped eating, agape. Forks mid-air.
In her how-to advice on Monster.com’s privacy settings, Gretchen S. Herault writes in this article: “If you don’t want your friends, family or boss to know about it, don’t post it online.”
Caveat emptor. Buyer beware.
What’s to be done?
If the cat’s already out of the bag, not much.
In this case, my friend’s colleague may or may not have cared. She may have been okay with the consequences. Heck, maybe it was part of her strategy. We’ll likely never know.
But it underscores the need for intense awareness and wariness about the benefits and potential pitfalls of taking our lives increasingly online.
What we do online today is often essential. But like a pebble dropped in a pond, it can have rippling effects well into the remainder of our lives.
Until next time!
Jared Redick
Visit: The Resume Studio.com
Follow: @TheResumeStudio
Connect: LinkedIn.com/in/jaredredick
Call: 415-397-6640
Filed under: Job Search Tips, Online Privacy |
The Résumé Studio Blog 
What a fascinating article. People usually think of NOT posting things on Facebook and Twitter that they don’t want the world to know, but I never would have thought that posting your resume on a job search site would generate a Google Alert. This is excellent information and I will definitely be sharing this with my clients.
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