Dangers of Posting on Big Job Boards

The World Privacy Forum acknowledges that while it is important to circulate your executive resume when looking for work, in the information economy, “your resume has ‘street value.'” They recommend taking measures to protect your privacy while using online resources in your employment search.

A key recommendation is posting your resume anonymously or privately, an action which conventional wisdom and job seekers’ experiences seem to indicate does somewhat degrade the response rate, as employers have to take an extra step to make that first contact. Yet they are unequivocal in their opinion: “Unfortunately, few job seekers take advantage of this option. Most job seekers are concerned that they are hurting their chances with legitimate employers by making them take an extra step. But at this point, it is simply not a good idea to post your resume openly — there are known risks at this point. If you are going to post a resume online, private posting should be the only way you post it.” If you still want to post openly, they suggest that you at least use a P.O. Box instead of your street address and a disposable email address.

Other traps to be aware of are that often jobs offered are just scams. It is also true that while most sites do restrict access and try to limit it to legitimate recruiters, they cannot possibly police this adequately. And once your resume has been downloaded, all control of that resume is lost.