Looks like there will be a weekly discussion of the candidate’s bill of rights over on ItzBIG. The first installment covers confidentiality.
Again, I didn’t see any earth shattering statements that differ with our standard business practices at CEC Search. I know that there are firms with will take any resume and in fact all resumes that they have in house, fire up the fax machine, and burn up the phone lines. I know of a couple where the account executives’ productivity is measured by the number of resumes that they get and fax out. I know this from two independent sources; both candidates and former employees have told me of the practice.
If you want to talk about something that could ruin your day (and also your market value) try imagining how an unauthorized fax campaign that spews forth your resume to untold dozens of companies would effect you. Now, I don’t think anyone should mention the names of firms that perform this ‘service’ for their candidates - it should suffice to say the candidates should be aware and investigate.
The one point that I do have a slight variance with, is the suggestion that somehow, resumes should be retrieved or destroyed. First, as part of the application process with companies, resumes are by law, required to be kept on file. Second, as an executive recruiter, I want to keep those resumes on file for future use. You never know when I may have an assignment that matches a candidate that I worked with in the past. Having the resume on file allows me to search and match for keywords on present assignments. It is in the best interest of the candidate and my firm that I be able to keep any and all resumes collected in a searchable database. Confidentiality should be observed, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater… no need to duplicate the work that went into obtaining a resume the first time.
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