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Still, it’s necessary to consider what information you provide and how it’s used. Some practices and sites are safer than others.
When putting your personal information out there, like when job searching, ask yourself the five Ws to determine whether the site is safe and whether its owners have your best interest at heart.
Who is getting access to your information?
We assume that when we sign up for a service, our information will stay with the company, but some organizations are in the business of selling your information to third parties. I’m not being an alarmist when I say, as members of the military and Veteran community, we have to be more careful with who receives our information. Job boards and sites for Veterans and military families can become easy targets for the individual seeking to do harm. Understand who will receive your information and what room for error there is in that transmission.
Be careful of posting to websites that give access to anyone who pays a fee to view your resume. We want to believe the best about everyone, but the reality is if scammers can pay a one-time fee to access your information, you could be an easy target.
We also need to pay attention to who “owns” the information we provide. Some companies take ownership of the data you provide, meaning they can do what they want with your profile, resume, etc.
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