I’ve never been a fan of Monster.com, especially after investigative reporter Ward Lucas of 9News in Denver exposed a scheme that was carried out on their website a few years ago, where job seekers were duped into releasing personal information after believing they would be hired for a job.
Now it’s all over the news again that vulnerable Monster clients have had their security compromised. You can read about it here.
Shortly after the 2005 story ran in Denver about the Monster problem, I met with the President of jobing.com and asked him personally about how they keep their site safe. He told me that he has a sales team that personally visits HR departments to ensure integrity, and they hire the best candidates for their IT department. Jobing.com has had no problems with high tech crimes involving their site.
Regardless of steps that companies take, it’s always in your best interest not to reveal too much information about yourself online. That goes for the traditional job search too. Recently, my husband was seeking employment and came across an application asking for his SS number. He left it blank and told them he would provide it once he’s hired. That’s the law now, did you know that? Apparently the store manager for this very well known company didn’t, and neither did their HR department. It was a sticky situation for my husband, but he landed a job interview as a result anyway, probably because he’s very AWARE and a proactive problem solver.
Be safe out there and good luck in YOUR job search.