Most everyone can relate to hiding a job search from a current employer. But how can job seekers protect their identities from public abuse when the majority of online career and social networking websites require job seekers' personal information to sign up and for potential employers to find them?

Identity thieves are increasingly exploiting job search and social networking websites because those sites can be treasure troves of registered users' personal information. In some cases, job search sites such as Monster.com, ZoomInfo, TechnologyLadder and ExecUNet, require two or more forms of personal identification data (such as a mailing address or credit card number) so that they can verify job seekers' identities at account setup. While I applaud their desire to protect the use of my identity, the news (Monster Attacked Again – 1.6 M Records Stolen, USAJOBS Fed Jobsite Hacked – Account Info Lost, and Trojan Trawls Job Search Sites Harvesting IDs) testifies to even these major job sites’ inability to protect that data consistently, and that makes me very leery of providing detailed identification data, especially my credit card numbers, to any job search website.

While these job search sites take measures to validate the identities of job seekers, they don't seem to do the same for employers. The result is that nearly all of these job sites allow someone to identify him or herself as an employer without verification. Then, as long as the "employer" pays its fees, it can access, download and save resumes at its convenience.

This means, for a relatively small price, scammers can have near limitless access to all your career and personal information.

The link between identity theft and job search sites hit home for me recently when someone tried to steal my identity to give themselves a very merry Christmas on my dime last month!
 
While my credit card company investigates the fraud, I've been thinking about ways job seekers can prevent their identities from being stolen or abused on the web. Here's what I've found:

1) Use secured job sites. Some job sites allow you to create a “safe” or “secure” resume, which replaces your standard contact information with an internal code name. Recruiters have to specifically request your information in order to gain access to you. This extra security step builds a barrier against automated hack attempts and screen scrapers trolling for IDs to steal.

2) Remove your standard contact information from your online resume.  If a website does not provide an automated means of protecting your identity, your option is to manually remove your home address, your home phone number, business contact data, and the e-mail addresses that can tie you to detailed personal profile information (such as AOL accounts). (54 percent of recruiters noted in a recent survey that they will not hold your decision to withhold this information against you.) Instead, only provide your city and state, an unlisted phone number (most cell phone numbers are unlisted) and an e-mail address that you use strictly for your job search.

Some privacy experts, like Pam Dixon, are even recommending using what they call “disposable contact information”) in order to protect yourself in today’s world of global information access. (Some job seekers are going so far as to create e-mail accounts that differentiate them and exemplify their personal branding statement, like, ITLeader@abc,com or SEOatLarge@abc,com.)

3) Modify your career history.  If you are still employed, replace your current employer's name with something more industry generic, such as “top international

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