Try these tips and hints for your hush-hush job hunt

Tribune Media Services

Given today’s job market, no one wants to be fired – but still, some workers are stuck in awful jobs they’d love to escape. As they try to change jobs, they must do so on a hush-hush basis and try to remain honest and discreet. Here are a few tips on ethics and stealth for just this sort of situation.

DON’T STEAL OFFICE PROPERTY OR TIME

-- If you must send or receive e-mail, tweet, check up on your contacts on social media or make phone calls, use your own equipment, such as a laptop, netbook, digital tablet or smartphone.

-- Search on your own time by leaving the building when it’s your normal routine (coming early, staying late, eating lunch out). Search inside only when you’re assured of privacy.

-- Remember this: Bosses legally can monitor company equipment to see what you’ve been up to. And bosses pay more attention to employees whose behavior raises suspicions.

REVIEW YOUR ONLINE PRIVACY SETTINGS

-- Don’t announce your roving eye on a social media page such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

-- If you’re working with recruiters, insist that your resume not be released to anyone without your agreement.

-- Check your resume for dead giveaways such as these examples:

-- You removed your name and contact information but forgot to delete your resume’s page two identification with your name (“Mary Smith Page 2”).

-- You wanted to impress and included your current job on your resume.

-- You named too many employers and brands, making your identity easy to guess. Instead, describe them in generic terms (example: midsize gardening supply distributor and well-known brands).

WATCH THE LITTLE THINGS

Getaway clues include these behaviors:

-- You use more sick days than usual, take longer lunch hours, or keep having car trouble or floods in the kitchen. Your hair is fluffed, your makeup is perfect. Solution: Try to schedule job interviews at night and on weekends.

-- You ask farewell questions, such as: “How much does COBRA continuation of health benefits cost?”

-- You begin regularly taking your personal belongings home.

-- You’re seen at a job fair and offer a lame reason: “I’m checking opportunities for a sick friend.”

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR BOSS FINDS OUT

-- Don’t lie and don’t cave in.

-- Explain that no one really wants to venture into the unknown, but for the following reasons – enumerate reasons that you’ve practiced saying in anticipation of this moment – you feel forced to look elsewhere. Ask if there’s any chance to work out your concerns where you are.

-- Try to remove emotion from the discussion and perhaps win an improved situation in your current job, or at least to buy time.

-- If your situation slides downhill fast, ask for a quid pro quo. That is, if you’re not forced out before you’re ready to leave, you’ll train your replacement on your own time.