With today's job prospects looking a lot more promising than the recessions bought about job insecurities of pay cuts and inconvenient working hours, confidence is now returning to the jobs market. Those employees that once had little choice working in these conditions are now more positive and confident to look for better career opportunities elsewhere.
So how does and individual go about looking for new employment whilst still working at their soon to be 'old' employers without either alerting colleagues of worst still, the boss? Get it wrong and job seekers risk damaging their career prospects not only with their current employers but also potentially with their new one. Our latest advice has been written with this in mind so you can essentially 'play it cool' so as to not leave having unintentionally soured relations.
Never search for a new job using your company email account
This one really goes without say, as everything here is not only monitored but if a work colleagues happens to look over your shoulder and see you using your account for such purposes then the news of your intentions will spread fast. Conversely any new potential company that you are in communication with will still see that you are using your current employers email and may not view this favourably. We would always suggest that best practice would be for anyone wishing for a career change to keep all communication a secret, and personal email would suit this cause a lot better.
Avoid taking days off at short notice
If an interview is scheduled, either go to the interview before or after work, a good recruiter acting on behalf of a client will be flexible and will understand. If you take any time off at short notice without a decent explanation than this may indicate to your employers that something is amiss. You must try to keep to your normal working patterns to avoid 'rocking the boat' where possible.
Schedule phone calls around your time/days off
Recruiters like nothing more than to talk to potential candidates over the phone, and as a result may end up calling you at inconvenient times, worst still while you are at work. You really do not want your phone ringing for example in a meeting with your colleagues or the boss. After all such calls will be hard for you to disguise. If your boss doesn't notice such phone calls about the office then you can be sure that your work colleagues will, and we all know just how fast office gossip can spread. Added to this constant phone calls are a distraction and may harm your performance which would also get you on the boss's radar. You need to still be a productive and focused member of staff right up until you leave for a job offer.
Set all of your social media profiles to private
You have to remember that any job search that you conduct via your social media networks will be visible to your friends even if you set your account(s) to private. People will naturally share and be curious about any conversations that you start. As most employers monitor certain sites like Facebook or Twitter it may not take them too long to know what is going on. Secrecy is your best weapon when conducting the all-important job search.
Do you know of any other tips job seekers can use to keep their intentions a secret?
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