Should You Post to Job Boards?
A few words of caution about posting your resume on a "job search board."
At first glance it sounds like a great way to get your resume in front of the greatest number of eyes with minimal effort, but do you know to whom those "eyes" belong? Some boards allow anyone to search their resume databases, and others require the searcher to create an account and may or may not charge them a fee. Either way you are giving strangers access to an awful lot of your personal information.
So who are these "strangers"? They may be HR representatives or hiring managers, but probably most are recruiters. So the end result is that you have inadvertently engaged the services of a recruiter simply by posting your resume online.
Best case scenario, it's a reputable recruiter who matches your resume to your dream job and calls you for permission to pass on your information to a potential employer.
Worst case scenario, the recruiter views your resume, thinks the match is close enough, passes it on to several employers and much like throwing spaghetti at the wall, hopes for something to stick.
On the other end, Potential Employer receives your resume, perhaps more than once AND possibly from more than one recruiter, and then proceeds to:
- wonder why you are applying for jobs that don't match your qualifications
- contact you, but since you had no knowledge that you applied for their position or that your resume has been passed on, you are completely unprepared and leave them with a bad impression
- are interested in interviewing you but put your resume on the bottom of the pile because if you are hired they have to pay the recruiter a fee
- received your resume so many times for so many jobs you are now invisible to them.
- any or all of the above
And don't even get me started on the risk of identity theft...