A client wondered if she should remove her resume from one of the big job posting aggregators (Indeed.com), in case her boss gets wind that she is looking for work.

My response was “it depends.”

If you are interested in being found, then it’s a good idea to keep your resume up there.  One thing to remember is that many recruiters actively seek “passive job seekers” – namely people who aren’t actively looking for a job.  Every development director or development professional I know is constantly getting calls from recruiters, as are many project managers, programmers, engineers, nurses…you name it.  That’s the name of the recruiter game.

Even if you didn’t have your resume up on Indeed, you could be recruited through a referral by a friend — or through LinkedIn. People can find you there, even if you’re not on any other job posting site. It’s important to keep your LinkedIn profile up-to-date and rich in applicable key words.

I recommend putting your resume on the big posting sites – Monster, CareerBuilder, Indeed and others.  You never know when you might be contacted.  And even if the lead doesn’t pan out, you will feel good  being “spotted.”  Plus you never know…:-)

Also, I’m pretty sure the HR people at your company have better things to do than checking to see who of their staff is posting resumes on Indeed or other places.  You might show up if they are searching for someone with your skills, however, so think through the value of possible leads versus the risk of being “discovered.”

If you believe you’ll be punished by your current employer if they discover you are looking for employment elsewhere, then take your resume down.

In such a case, you want to protect yourself when you spruce up your LinkedIn profile to include key words for the position/field you want.  Here are two essential things to do:

  1. Turn OFF the notification function.  That way, your boss won’t see that you’ve been updating your profile – sometimes a sure indicator that someone is looking for work.  I have a post on how to do that.
  2. “Dis-connect” with your boss or colleagues on LinkedIn.  Here’s how to do that.
  • Mouse over the “Network” tab on the black band across the top of your LinkedIn page.  Click on “Contacts.” Once there, click on “Connections” in the list to the left of the page. This takes you to a page where you can search for a connection or for a group of people.
    • If you know the person’s name: Search for a person’s name in the search box (upper left over connection list), it will take you to their profile page.  Once there, find the blue box with white writing that says “send message.” Mouse over the white arrow next to it, and the drop-down menu will show “remove connection” at the bottom.
    • If you want to remove more than one person’s name:  You can sort your connections by location, company, title and more by using the left column options. You can list companies alphabetically by choosing that option from the drop-down menu on the upper right of the connection list.  “Location” shows geographic locations where you have the most contacts, to the least number.
  • When you disconnect from someone, they will NOT get a notice that you have disconnected.  Be aware, however, that if they go to your profile for some reason, they will know you are no longer connected because your profile page will not have the 1st button at the top.
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