Your boss probably doesn't want your to leave, so, when you want to find a job with a different employer, you unfortunately need to be cautious about how you approach that job search. It is not unusual to hear of someone being fired for job hunting, an attitude that pre-dates the Internet.

Following these steps will not only protect your job, they will protect your identity, too.

1. Do your job search at home.
   You have no guarantee of privacy - even during your "personal time" - at work. Your employer may monitor your use of e-mail, your Web surfing habits, and even the voicemail messages left for you, assuming that you aren't an independent contractor using your own assets.
   
   
2. Raise your personal visibility.
   Join local professional and business organizations, and be an active member. Having a good network of people who know you is the best insurance you can have against a long, painful job search after a job loss. This is a lifelong project, and it should make you more valuable to your employers, too.
   
   
3. Keep a low electronic profile of your job search.
   Don't announce your job search in your blog, your MySpace page, or in an e-mail sent to the general world. Don't hire a resume distribution service to post your resume at dozens of job sites or e-mail it to thousands of employers and recruiters. It could so easily end up in the wrong hands.
   
   
4. Let Google track employers and opportunities for you.
   Develop a list of potential employers where you would like to work, and sign up for free Google Alerts (google.com/alerts) for jobs posted on the organizations' Websites or when related news about the employer is picked up by Google. Have the alerts sent to your personal (not your work!) e-mail address! See Job-Hunt's Using Google Alerts article for tips and detailed information.
   
   
5. Be careful posting your resume at a job site.
   Don't openly post your resume at any job sites, unless you can post it as "private" or "confidential" and delete it when your job search is over. Sign up for the job alerts, but don't have them sent to your work e-mail address where your current employer could find them.
   
   
6. Use your personal cell phone number on your resume.
   Using your employer's name, address, and phone numbers as your contact information is a very good way to blow your cover, and makes it impossible for you to stay in touch if you leave or lose your job. Just think how awkward it would be if your boss answered your phone and a recruiter was calling, or a co-worker picked up your messages and there was one from a recruiter!
   
   
7. Use your home or other non-work e-mail address to for your job search.
   See # 1, above, for the reason. In addition, if you lose your job, you'll lose access to your work e-mail account, so avoid the problem by not using it.
   
   
8. Disguise your current employer's name.
   You don't want your job search to be "outed" by your boss or a recruiter accidentally (or on purpose) stumbling over your resume on Monster or CareerBuilder, etc. So, don't put your current employer's name (e.g. IBM or Acme Widgets, etc.) on your resume. [And, if your job title is unique to your employer, replace that, too.] Substitute a description in place of your employer's name - so, assuming you work for IBM, in place of "IBM" on your resume put "Multi-National Fortune 50 Information Technology Company."
   
   
9. Add an "effective date" at the bottom of your resume.
   Hopefully this will help you from being haunted by an old resume, if your current employer finds it online. If they see the date is before you started working for them, they should be less concerned.
   

Not unnaturally, employers tend to view job seeking employees as "disloyal" and a threat to company secrets, customer lists, etc. So maintaining a low profile is the smart thing to do, even though it makes your job search a bit trickier.

See Job-Hunt's articles on Choosing Job Sites, Using Job Sites, Cyber-Safe Resumes, Dirty Dozen Online Job Search Mistakes, and Tapping the Hidden Job Market for more information and tips. To help you with your networking, check out the articles by Liz Ryan, Job-Hunt's Job Search Networking Pro.

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Article by Susan P. Joyce, Job-Hunt's editor and senior job hunter

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