Caught in the Net: Think twice before posting your resume and personal info online

Q: I have been cautioned about putting my resume online. For example, my existing employer might find out I am looking for another job if she finds my resume. Some employers actively look for this type of behavior. If they find your resume online, they weed you out of your job. Is this a legitimate concern? Are there other concerns about online resumes?

NICK'S REPLY: Posting your resume could lead to a job, but it could also lead to problems if you do it haphazardly. The worst risks arise if you include personal information on your resume. Some sites let you apply confidentially.

Here are a few undesirable outcomes of posting your resume online:

• Your boss might find it while searching for new hires or while intentionally spying, as you pointed out.
• A recruiter might find it, circulate it to hundreds of employers and claim a fee if a company hires you -- even though you don't want to work through a recruiter.
• Multiple recruiters might pluck your resume and send it to companies you're applying to on your own. Now these employers face a potential "fee fight" among recruiters if you get hired. Who deserves the fee? Some companies will just drop you rather than risk a battle.
• Once you're happily working at a new job, your new boss may run into your old resume online and call you on the carpet. You have to explain that it's an old resume that's still floating around. (Lots of resume sites never clean house. Resumes linger.) Good luck.

You shouldn't put personal information about yourself on the Net any more than you should put your name and phone number on the wall of a public building. It demeans and devalues you.

Some people will say that posting resumes is so common that no one would hold it against you. So ask yourself this: Are you willing to publish personal information about yourself today knowing that tomorrow it could unexpectedly turn up in the wrong hands?

THE HEADHUNTER TIP:

Pursue companies, not jobs.

Any job that looks attractive (or acceptable) today will turn into a different job in six or 12 months. The nature of the work always evolves because employers' needs change. A big reason why people change employers is that they take a good job at a questionable company but fail to see that their job will change -- but the company won't.

Don't chase jobs that sound good. Go to a company that will let you -- and help you -- evolve with it. That means the company must be as golden as they come. If you have to, accept a less attractive job if it gets you into a good company where you see a sweet future. Good companies offer many good careers, no matter what happens to your first job.

Why take one good job today, when you can join a company that has lots of good jobs for the future?

Copyright 2009. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate

Nick Corcodilos is author of "Ask The Headhunter: Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job" and the host of www.asktheheadhunter.com. He can be reached by e-mail at seattle@asktheheadhunter.com or at North Bridge Group, P.O. Box 600, Lebanon, NJ 08833. Sorry, no personal replies.