Question:
How do you know that a job search Website does not share personal information?
Answer:
Unfortunately, you can NEVER be sure that the site will not share your personal information. However, within reason (!), making your information public is part of their job.
If a privacy policy is not present, don' t use the Website. Just walk away immediately. However, don't be reassured by the mere presence of a privacy policy either.
Privacy Policy Fine Print
Read the privacy policy to see what it says. Yes, time consuming, but SO important! Often, once you get past the flowerly language about how they value privacy, you may find out that they don't protect yours. Look for what personal information about you that they may share, with whom they share it, and how you can control the sharing.
Privacy Seals
Seeing a privacy seal, like BBBOnline or TRUSTe, displayed on a site can give you a false sense of security. It doesn't ensure that the privacy practices are good or that the site is "safe." It just means that the site is disclosing their true privacy practices in the policy. So, it means that they are "open" about their privacy practices, which may or may not be safe (and you won't know until you read it).
Fake Privacy Seals?
Sometimes a site fraudulently displays a privacy seal. How do you know? The seal should be clickable and, when clicked, should take you to a page on the seal provider's Website that verifies that the seal is legitimate.
OOPS?
Often, a site may intend to keep your information private but they may mess up -
- Fake employers can pay to post fake jobs to gather information from applicants and/or to get access to the applicant resume database. Good sites try to screen employers to make sure they are genuine, but not all sites try very hard.
- The site's employees may not be aware of the privacy practices - although they should be - and release information in violation of the privacy policy.
- The site or its employees may just be inept. Stupid happens.
- Some sites may even be dishonest. I have found completely bogus job sites out there. Completely. All they were doing was collecting resumes.
- Some honest sites that are doing a good job may have a dishonest employee who violates the privacy policy on purpose - like selling resumes to anyone who has the money.
Even Monster apparently mislead people in their Privacy Policy, as discovered by author Pam Dixon in 2001 - read this report for the details. Hopefully, they've cleaned up their act, but the lesson for all of us is that you really can't trust privacy policies or terms of use, even in the best-intentioned sites.
So, we can't depend on the sites to protect us.
Protect Yourself
1.) Show me the jobs - first!
Never post your resume or "register a profile" at a site before you see the jobs they have posted. The jobs and employers they have may not be the right ones for you. There may not be enough of them, or there may be none!
2.) Always protect your contact information.
Use a "cyber-safe" resume that eliminates or masks your contact information. See Job-Hunt.org's article on making your resume a cyber-safe resume.
For more information:
For more information see these articles on Job-Hunt.org -
* Protecting your privacy
* Choosing a job site
* Using a job site
And these other articles -
* Avoiding online job scams from the Privacy Rights Clearninghouse
* Scams & schemes in work and employment services from the RileyGuide.com
Good luck with your job search!
Comments