Job Seeker Information

After one of the major job boards reported a major security leak in 2007, you may have become a little bit wary about putting your resume online, for fear that your contact information might be exploited for money-making purposes such as direct mail, email marketing, or identity theft.  There are measures you can take, however, to ensure that you’re not at risk when applying for jobs online at sites whose URLs end in jobs.com.

You could always just not put your resume on the Internet, right? Well sure, but that’s going to put you at a pretty big disadvantage, as a lot of recruiters use the Internet to find candidates, and if it’s not there, they can’t find you, which means that you will have to be a lot more proactive, monitoring many job boards before you find a position that matches your skill set.  It’s much easier if the recruiters can find you, and another advantage is that they might be able to tell you about unadvertised jobs.  If that’s the case, you want to be able to be easily found- so how can you assure you’re not opening yourself up to a ton of risk, and that your information will be safe?

A good rule of thumb is don’t post your resume anywhere that you’re not confident about.  Trust your instincts.  When you do decide to post your resume to a job board, make sure you read their privacy policy carefully.  They may resell your resume or access to it, and you need to make sure that their affiliate websites and clients also have privacy policies that you can live with.  You might even want to set up an employer account so that you can check the boards’ employer guidelines for searching resumes, too.  At the end of the day, the best way to get the information you need is to email or call the jobs.com board and request it- they want your resume, as it’s how they make money, so they will do their best to accommodate you in most cases.

Once you’ve decided which board(s) you trust enough to post your resume to, take proper precautions when applying to jobs and responding to email solicitations. Job boards work hard to ensure that only legitimate jobs are posted, however, it’s near impossible to catch every single one of those “spam” job postings that may get through the filters. What this means to you is that you must keep an eye out for fishy jobs and emails. The old adage is truer than ever on the Internet- if something is too good to be true, it probably is. Never, ever give out your social security number or bank account information. An employer should never ask for that information via email, and a job board will not ever ask you for that information either, as is stated in most of their Privacy Policies.

If you are unlucky enough to be a target of one of these phishing scams, or some other sort of deception, it’s in your, the job board, employer, and everyone that uses that site’s best interest to report it to the board as soon as possible and with as much information as possible.  You can also report strange-looking or sounding jobs, too- this will help cut down on the number of fake jobs posted to that board.  The more you can help the job boards, the better job they will be able to do of prevention in the future.

By knowing where your resume is posted, doing your due diligence in regards to security measures and keeping an eye out for fraud, you can help keep yourself and your personal information safe while conducting an online jobs.com search.

The security breach at a major online job board last year may have made you a little hesitant to put your resume into online databases for fear that your contact information will be used for money-making purposes such as direct mail or email marketing or even identity theft. However, there are security measures you can take that will make your search for internet jobs more secure.

There’s always the option of just not putting your resume on the Internet at all, but that’s going to saddle you with a pretty large disadvantage in that recruiters that use the internet to find candidates won’t be able to find you!  Instead, you will have to proactively monitor many different job boards, looking for companies that are looking for you.  It’s a lot easier to find candidates for a recruiter when they can search through online databases looking for skill sets that match yours and contacting you about unadvertised job openings.  If the case is that you want to be easy to find, you’ll have to post your resume, so how can you do that and ensure that the boards you post to are legitimate and have precautions in place to ensure the safety of your information?

Always make sure that you feel confident before you post a resume to a internet jobs website.  Read their privacy policy carefully, primarily to figure out where they may repost your resume, or who they may sell it to.  If they do redistribute it to other sites, do you trust those sites, as well?  The best way to get answers to these kinds of questions is to email or call the board directly.  You can even log in as an employer and research all their policies on resume searching.  These boards want your resume- it’s a large part of how they make money- so any one that’s any good will accommodate your requests without a problem.

Once you’ve decided which board(s) you trust enough to post your resume to, take proper precautions when applying to jobs and responding to email solicitations. Job boards work hard to ensure that only legitimate jobs are posted, however, it’s near impossible to catch every single one of those “spam” job postings that may get through the filters. What this means to you is that you must keep an eye out for fishy jobs and emails. The old adage is truer than ever on the Internet- if something is too good to be true, it probably is. Never, ever give out your social security number or bank account information. An employer should never ask for that information via email, and a job board will not ever ask you for that information either, as is stated in most of their Privacy Policies.

If you do get a scam or “phishing” type of email and are able to deduce from what job board the sender got your information, it’s in everyone’s best interest for you to let the job board know as soon as possible, and give them as much information about said scam and the person who contacted you as possible.  You can also report fraudulent looking job postings.  The more aware the job boards are of potential rip-offs, the better job they can do to prevent them in the future.

By knowing what internet jobs sites ere your resume is posted on, doing your due diligence in regards to security measures and keeping an eye out for fraud, you can help keep yourself and your personal information safe while conducting an online job search.

Hi everybody! Today, I will be taking some time to speak to the person looking for a part-time job.  This is a bit of a departure from what is usually a more career-oriented column but I feel this information is valuable as well.  Conducting an online job search for a part time job is done in the same manner as conducting an online job search for a full time job!  The same rules apply- make sure there is some way for the employer to contact you that isn’t on line, for example- use a cell phone, voice mail or answering machine to help stay in touch when email isn’t available.  If you’re also pounding the pavement- walking into physical work locations to ask about employment opportunities, you should be prepared for an immediate interview and/or offer of employment! You may also find other opportunities at national job boards such as Go Jobs.com.

There are niche boards on the Internet that specialize in part-time work, and the big national board also have search engines that will allow a job seeker to search only for part-time positions.  The nice thing about using these boards is that you can usually complete the whole application on-line, from the comfort of your home.  Some of the larger retailers, such as JC Penney and Target, have special sections – ending in jobs.com- on their websites, just for part-time hourly workers.

Most online applications for part-time work are the same as those for full-time jobs- they will require contact information, education, and employment history, as well as salary information and your availability. Some of these applications will also ask for references.

Make sure that you diversify your job search by using other resources such as classified sites like Craigslist, and the print edition of the newspaper.  Make sure you stay vigilant of your surroundings, you never know when the coffee shop on the corner will put out a Help Wanted sign.  Alternatively, you may want to approach the manager of such an establishment directly and ask if there are any unadvertised employment opportunities available. 

Remember, there is help out there too- make sure to utilize free or inexpensive services that provide job search assistance such as your high school guidance office, college student employment office and state Department of Labor offices, as well as your local public library.

You should make sure that everyone you know knows you are looking for a job- your social and professional network can help you find unadvertised jobs- networking is very important because it works!