If you hate your job, and want to leave, go for it. But, job hunt VERY carefully! I have spoken with many job seekers who were in that position, and made the mistake of not keeping their intentions a secret at work. It cost them their jobs!
If your job hunting activities become public, you may find yourself on a very fast, one-way trip out the door, with no more paychecks from that employer. In the USA, most of us are employees “at will” which means our employer can fire us for any reason or for no reason. Tough to be without an income but with the need to explain to potential employers why you were fired. Not easy or fun.
Why Your Employer Does NOT Want You Job Hunting
Employers are not happy to learn that an employee is job hunting. And, most of the time it’s not because they value that employee so highly (although they may).
An employee who is job hunting is obviously not focusing 100% of their time on their job. They are distracted.
Another reason, often the main reason they are not happy to learn about a pending departure, is concern about what the departing employee will take with them – “company secrets” like:
- Customer/client lists
- Pending product or service ideas
- Competitive information about flaws or weaknesses in current products or services
- Information about the people and the culture that could be used by a competitor
- Other key employees
- Important internal knowledge (about plans, events, blunders, and anything else a competitor could leverage)
To cut their losses, they often show the job seeker quickly out the door, sometimes without an opportunity to pack up their offices.
16 Ways You May Blow Your Cover and Lose Your Job
If you want to leave, keep your desire – and your job search – secret. Technology is often what trips up job seekers today, so read the list below, to keep your intentions invisible to your employer and your co-workers:
- Do not announce that you are “seeking a new position as…” in your LinkedIn Profile.
- Do not publicly join the LinkedIn Groups for job seekers.
- If you do join the LinkedIn job search Groups (they can be very helpful), don’t make the Group logo visible on your Profile.
- If you join those Groups, contact other members privately rather than posting what you want to the whole Group.
- Do not announce in any other LinkedIn Groups that you are in a job hunting.
- Do not post announcements of your job search activities on Facebook (interviews, etc.), particularly if you have “friended” others you work with.
- Do not tweet an announcement of your desire to leave your current job.
- Do not openly post your resume on any job boards or other public sites for job seekers or job search.
- Do not job search at work using your employer’s network and computer.
- Do not edit or print your resume at work (and don’t copy your resume there either).
- Do not job search at home using your employer’s assets (computer, smart phone, etc.).
- Do not give out your work phone number for recruiters and potential employers to call you.
- Do not use your work email address for your job search.
- Do not announce your job search in the mailing list for your professional or business group.
- If you send out a job search related email from your work email account, delete it and empty the “wastebasket” (messages are not deleted, usually, until the email wastebasket is emptied – so those messages are still in your employer’s email system and still traceable to you).
- If someone sends you a job search related email to your work email account, forward it ASAP, then delete it and the forwarding message you sent. Then, go to your email account’s “wastebasket” and empty the wastebasket.
Be very, VERY careful discussing leaving your job with your work friends whether you are at work or at after-hours get-togethers.
Safe Departure (Stealth Job Search)
OK – enough of the “Do not’s”! Here are some Do’s!
You may leave your current employer, but best to do it on your own terms. So, ramp up your activities, remembering that your boss may see anything you post on line (or someone else may see it and report it).
1. Set up personal non-work contact information.
You cannot use any of your employer’s equipment or Internet connection for your job search because such activity will be easy to trace back to you. Establish a Gmail or Yahoo email account to use for your job search, but access it from home or from other non-work locations like the library if you don’t have a computer and Internet connection at home.
(Be sure the email address is not strange or silly. Keep it as business-like and grown-up as possible so it makes a good impression for you.)
If possible, use a personal cellphone with voice mail for your job search. Don’t use an employer-supplied phone because it to may be monitored (as well as the voice mail associated with it and with your regular work phone, too).
2. Carefully raise your LinkedIn visibility.
Don’t shift from zero LinkedIn activities to hyperspace speed over night. Slowly and carefully build your Profile, add appropriate connections, get recommendations from co-workers (and recommend them back), ask questions in LinkedIn Answers that support your current job and employer. Remember that these activities are visible for anyone to see.
Join Groups for your industry, profession, and location. And be visible in those Groups, always publicly supporting your current job and employer.
If you are in a public-facing job like sales, marketing, or customer service, having a public LinkedIn Profile will help you be more successful in your current job. So, your employer should not be concerned about your activities. If you are not in one of those jobs, proceed slowly and cautiously.
3. Post your resume very carefully.
Employers are known to “cruise” job boards looking for the resumes of current employees. So be sure to:
- Use only job boards which offer you the ability to suppress your name and contact information while still allowing your resume to be included in resume searches by potential employers.
- If your employer is small, disguise the name of your employer as well as the names of products and services. Use generic descriptions like “mid-sized commercial bank” or “auto parts distributor” or whatever is appropriate.
- If very few people have the same job title you have, disguise your job title, too. It may be better to use an industry-standard job title, anyway. So, if you are officially the “Product XYZ Maintenance Technician,” rename your title to ”Large-Scale Pump Maintenance Technician” or whatever is accurate and appropriate.
Use your personal non-work contact information on your resume so you are not contacted at work by potential employers in a way that could cost you your job.
Paranoia Is Appropriate
Yes, it does seem somewhat paranoid, but on the better-to-be-safe-than-sorry theory, follow these tips so you continue to earn that paycheck until you land your new job. The reality is that it is much easier now than in the past for employers to learn that employees are job hunting. Their attitude toward that activity hasn’t change, but their access to the information has increased dramatically.
10 Tips for a Stealthy and Successful Job Search
Networking During a Stealth Job Search
How to Leave Your Job in Good Hands (& Why You Should) (WorkCoachCafe.com)
© Copyright, 2013, Susan P. Joyce. All rights reserved.
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About the author…
Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps, Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. Since 1998, Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt.org. Susan also edits and publishes WorkCoachCafe.com. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg and on Google+.