When Job Hunting, Post Your Resume Anonymously

Always, always, always post your resume online anonymously. With the threat of identify theft so great, it makes no sense to put your name, address, and any other identifying personal information out there for everyone to see. Most employment sites will let you post your resume anonymously and no reputable employer or recruiter will care that they can’t see your name, address, email, or phone number… it’s your skills they should be after, not your identity.

Of course, there are other reasons to remain anonymous… such as if you’re are currently employed. You want to be the one to let your employer know that you’ve sought out greener pastures, not some search on a website. Of course, if you’re at a large enough company then chances are HR won’t recognize you but it’s safe that way anyway. I’ve gotten job inquiriers from my own company before, it’s pretty funny.

Also, don’t divulge any personal information, such as your address or social security number to someone you never meet in person. Don’t give them information to do a background check, phishing for information isn’t restricted to emails about v1@gr@ and mystical lottery winnings; someone can easily email you, get a phone number, and then call you up trying to socially engineer more information out of you. No address or social until you’ve actually gone to their place of business and interviewed. You can give them all that information there anyway. (also, background information checks aren’t cheap, wouldn’t you think they’d want to at least give you a first round interview before they ponied up cash for a background check? Yeah, exactly, it’s a scam.)