When you post your resume on Internet job boards “” and you must if you’re looking for work “” you may want to keep your name and contact information confidential.
If you don’t care who knows you’re job hunting, then don’t worry about it. But if you’re still working and want to job hunt without your current employer knowing about, then heed this advice.
Revi Goldwasser, founder of Interview Tips and Secrets in Boca Raton, Fla., said job hunters-on-the-sly need to pay attention to the “confidential” features permitted on major job boards such as CareerBuilder, HotJobs and Monster.
“When you respond to a posting, there’s a link to download your resume as a Word attachment,” she said in a telephone interview. “Be sure you haven’t named your resume file as your name if you’re trying to be confidential. Change your resume file name to ‘confidential resume’ before you download it. Otherwise, even if you use the confidential features on the job board, employers will see your name.”
And that’s OK, of course, if you’re in an open job search. But if you’re not, then also make sure the body of your resume doesn’t reveal your current employer’s name or any other identifying information that you’re trying to protect by using confidential functions.
Goldwasser was a gold mine of job board advice, starting with her encouragement to post your resume on as many major as well as niche job boards as relevant.
“Then refresh your posts weekly, even if it’s just adding a comma,” she said.
Goldwasser’s other big tips for job-board postings:
–Be sure to use the key words in your resume that the job recruitment lists as requirements. That improves the odds of a computer or human screener tagging your resume for further consideration.
–Don’t pay to have your resume posted anywhere. For almost every job, there are plenty of other free job board, niche site and individual company options to get noticed.
–Spend a Sunday afternoon and upload your resume to as many databases as possible. “It may pay dividends on Monday morning,” she said.
By Diane Stafford
July 27, 2009
source: postandcourier.com