Comoto – How should you handle CV Privacy versus getting a new Job

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Comoto Newsletters

This newsletter is all about how you should handle your CV Privacy versus getting a new Job – what should be considered to avoid risks like identity theft, cyber stalking, scams and other misuse of your CV information.

Last week on the Comoto’s blog we received a complete CV as a blog post with personal data, detailed private information and phone and other private numbers

My first thought was rather negative – but then I started to consider that in a world with more than 200 million unemployed, you might decide to take all risks in the hope of a job and instead I decided to help! Therefore, I have compiled the following advice on how you could handle your privacy issues and on our blog you can find an article with general advice for you to consider – reading more here.

CV privacy
What needs to be done!

As part of your CV Creating, Managing and Optimizing you should always consider which details you should include and/or show in your CVs (in Comoto this is easier, you have detailed control on both). Please read more here, if you should include among other your full address, phone numbers and also how to use a correct email address.

Remember that one of the many strong points on Comoto is the ability to handle both multiple CVs and Web online profiles – therefore, on Comoto you can have different approaches to CVs – CVs with full details, some CVs with limited details and CVs or Resumes with only few private details to be used in the public (web) space. Comoto also makes it possible to control the access to your web profile with a password.

The level of details in a CV can be handled in two different ways on Comoto – You can either make a copy (clone) of your current CV and remove certain parts or you can manage the visibility with on/off switches with the red/green buttons – see the picture

Why should you care about what you show ! Is this important ?

A few statistics and related information on identity theft

It is expected as many as 10 million Americans a year are victims of identity theft. The United States Department of Justice states that in 2010, 7% of all United States households had at least one member of the family at or over the age of 12 who has been a victim of some sort of identity theft. As many other issues this is now spreading all over the world – consider this happened for you! (read more here).

But what can happen if your identity has been stolen!

  • 47% of victims had trouble getting credit or a loan as a result of identity theft
  • 19% of victims had higher credit rates and 16% had higher insurance rates because of identity theft
  • 11% of victims say identity theft has a negative impact on their abilities to get a job
  • 70% of victims have trouble getting rid of (or never get rid of) negative information in their records

You can find out more about identity theft and how to handle it here.

Similar precautions to which information you show in your CVs/Resumes should be considered when you publish or share/send CV information or update your CV/Web profile.

Carefully consider if there are there any information that could harm you or somebody else – read more about the correct levels of details in your CV here and read more about the correct time to update your CV/Resume here

Now you properly have made the appropriate number of CVs – worked with the CV Data and the layout (template) and you are ready to start using the CV – you have taken the correct precautions, considered the proper information for each CV and are ready to share it with everybody in the world – or are you ?

I am afraid there are way too many job scams, fake jobs and bogus recruiters and suspicious CV databases (see our evaluation here) out there you should consider first. I have collected some relevant information and tips for you here

Your Privacy is important for Comoto

Remember, at Comoto we regard our user’s privacy very high and give you numerous options and features to help you handle your CVs/Resumes privacy – like you can have many CVs – for example (and remember the CV Data can be intelligently linked for easy updates). For example

  • One CV without many details that can be broadly used
  • Another CV with more details for X, targeted for a specific job type
  • And one made for your current employers file (to illustrate you can build your CV history/log on Comoto)

You can have many web profiles – for example

  • One or more profiles with very little details for public access – see here what to include and not to include
  • Other CVs with little differences – yes why not have several – each made with a different password

The Comoto CV Manager also ensures your privacy

  • All access to your information in password protected (remember to have a strong password – here)
  • All information on the Comoto CV Manager application is secured (try here)

In the next version – which we are working hard to finish – we will be adding further features for you to be in full control of your CV/Resume privacy and risks involved in the management of your CV/Resume.

Thanks for your time – comments and suggestions will be highly appreciated
Kren, CEO

How to handle your CV privacy and avoid CV risks like Identity theft, cyberstalking or CV misuse

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How to handle your CV privacy and avoid CV risks like Identity theft and CV misuse

To ensure you have full control over your CVs risk likeidentity theft

Our thoughts on privacy – read here

And consider the information you include in your CVs (Remember on Comoto you multiple CVs – this is another reason for having more than one CV – see here).

Should you include – remember to make this evaluation for each CV based on purpose and receiver?

  • Name
  • Full Address
  • Email
  • Twitter, Facebook and other social network information
  • Phone number (land line or mobile)
  • Social security number or central register personal number or similar
  • Tax payer number
  • Password number
  • Picture
  • Mothers Maiden name
  • Drivers’ license number and information
  • Bank account number or the information that you have one

What about:

  • Marital status.
  • Height
  • Weight
  • Religion
  • Professional license number.
  • Gender
  • Age
  • The reason why you left a past employer.

You should also consider whom you are sending an application and a CV or when you fill out their web based application form with your CV data

  • Who is the recruiter or the company – a real or a fake job
  • Who is the company having the job – a scam ?
  • How are they handling my CV data
  • What can the use my CV data for
  • How long time can the keep my data
  • How can I ensure they have updated data over time / always ?

You should also consider the CV databases you are sending the CV or when you fill out their form with your CV data

  • Who is the CV Database– a real or a fake job
  • Who is the company behind – a scam
  • How are they handling my data
  • What can the use my CV data for
  • How long time can the keep my data
  • How can I ensure they have updated data over time

When you get a job offer you should still be cautions – first consider if it is a real or fake offer – but also accept to show (avoid copies) more detailed information like:

  • Passport
  • Birth certificate

as the company need to ensure you are who you say you are and the company also need to get you registered correctly in the company record.

Always remember – Sounds too good to be true? It probably is. Be careful!

The Team

Privacy – ”You have no privacy. Get over it” – or handle it! (UK tekst)

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Privacy – ”You have no privacy. Get over it” – accept it or try to handle it – if that is possible at all!

PrivacyThe above quote from the CEO of Sun in 1999 seems to be more evident than ever – after a week where it was illustrated that Apple is tracking our phone calls and our geolocation – just one week after Facebook was advised to “better protect its users and improve overall security” by Sophos is seems more then relevant to touch this important subject, once again.

In several blog posts I will focus on and describe several privacy issues and especially their effect on your CV’s and job process related risk and behavior – it is as very difficult balance between giving and controlling information, being open or being closed in behavior!

Some of the subjects I will comment is:

  • Public / available information
    How to find the right balance between being found by headhunters on social networks and not show to much information making it possible to misuse the information.
  • Cyberstalking
    Is an increasing problem and often it is easy to find the necessary information in your CV to either harass you or stalk you.
  • Your web history is being tracked with cookies and other smart tools
    Who to seem what and when – what if shared
  • Search engine results
    What can We find out about you if we search you on Google and others – if the information is not the same as in your CV – what is the correct information and how can you – or can’t – change the search impression
  • Social networks
    We all love social networks – the LinkedIn of this world  – but what happens if your network is with the wrong guys ?
  • Fake job offers
    Increasing in numbers trying either to get you to do something you should have avoided or just to get information from you – see my CEO comments here on this matter LINK
  • CV Database scams
    Inventing traffic on the CV Database site or fake interest in you – can make you make the wrong decisions – see my CEO comments here on this subject LINK
  • Spam
    An old friend – still there and stronger than ever!
  • Bacn
    The new recipe – mails from a provider where you accepted – or did not remove the check-mark within the 44 pages standard terms – is increasing and drowning you in mails missing the important one

Please let me know  if I should take similar matters into consideration – feel free to mail us at theteam@140.82.38.88

Du kæmper for at beskytte dine data så pas på dine private data – men dit password er dårligt!

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Hvor mange passwords har du ? Pas på dine private data!

pas på dine dataDet ser ud til verden kan deles i to – dem som har 1 password til alt og dem der har 3 passwords. Den sidste gruppe – som faktisk omfattede mig – har et kort for hurtigt og nem adgang, en mellemting og mere sikker for de mere private logins og et tredie kompliceret password til bankkonti og andet vigtigt! Husk – pas på dine private data!

Hvordan kan jeg påstå dette – jo desværre har flere af de seneste store hacks af passwords på Sony og Gawker vist at en masse personer, som var på begge systemer brugte det samme password  – og husk at ingen af de to systemer brugte krypterede passwords –
så personer som arbejdede på disse og lignende systemer kunne se disse passwords. Det skulle være et narturligt krav at passwords er krypterede (på Comoto er dit password krypteret og vi kan ikke se det – vi passer på din privathed).

Hvoor stærkt er dit password ?

pas på dine dataEt stærkt password kunne være 2hCP7quTEufK – det er qwerty12345 ikke. At lave et sådant passwords er ikke nemt, og jeg bruger selv Roboform til at generere og huske mine passwords (jeg bruger Roboform passwordsoftware fordi den håndterer både IE Explorer og  Firefox og på både Mac og Windows samt på telefon og tablet). Hvis du ikke kan lide eller ikke ønsker at benytte passwordsoftware så brug logiske kombinationer sammen med et højt antal karakterer – for eksempel kombinationen af en svært password som 2hCP7qu**** ved at ændre de sidste 4 karakterer med noget, som beskriver den aktuelle side eller anvendelsen – 2hCP7qu**** bliver så 2hCP7qucomo på Comoto.

Du kan teste styrken af dit password her.

Du tænker måske – hvorfor er et password vigtigt på en CV applikation – først og fremmest fordi det er dine data og dine private oplysninger – og har du nogensinde tænkt på hvad der ville ske, hvis en ukendt begyndte at bruge dine data og dit CV bare for at gøre skade på dig – ansøgte et job, ansøgte et job ved din nuværende ansætters værste konkurent …. jeg vil overlade det til dig selv at tænke videre – eller brug tiden til at få dig den rette password strategi.

Take control of your CV’s – Comoto allows you to control your CV privacy

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cv privacyTake control of your CV and the privacy surrounding this. You control if you want your CV to be private or public or only shared with invited people.

You have several different ways you can control your CV. You can make it available:

  • for you only (private)
  • public available (for all)
  • public available (with password protection)

The Comoto Team

Comoto‘s aim is to become “The Central Place” where you can create, clone, copy, manage, backup and distribute your CV and Cover letters fast and easy. To create your first Comoto CV, signup for free and just add your data (or use one of the many easy import features), pick one of our special designed templates, preview your CV and finally export to your favourite format (.DOC – .PDF – .PNG) or publish it in a Web Profile (Public/Private). Now you are ready to have full control of your CV. Notice other unique features – like multiple CV’s – a few clicks and you can create a CV targeted for a specific job.

  • Free CV Builder and Manager »
  • Free CV Templates also download »
  • Free Help, Tips, Tricks and Guides »
  • Free Import/Export (Fast & Easy) »
  • Free Multilingual Spellchecker »

Cheating and lying in CV – fake job offers – CV database misconduct – an increasing trend or ?

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Cheating and lying in CV – fake job offers – CV database misconduct – an increasing trend or ?

At Comoto we believe being honest in your CV pays off, and believe that you should not be worried about your CV data and/or your application. I will in over the next period – in my comments – show you some examples of what I believe should be avoided and hopefully thereby give you some thoughts to consider about your privacy and secure use of CV databases. Remenber at Comoto you can stand out with verified CV information – See Comoto Commenting Feature.

lying in cvFake Jobs!

One of the latest fake job offer schemes was actually quite successful in several countries – see http://www.sierra-express.biz/ (I am afraid or hope the page will be closed some day). After applying you would receive a full contract in your own local language and shortly after employed – but actually you will only be handling the export of stolen goods (becoming a mule for them) to the guys behind the scheme. Therefore, make sure you do your homework  and prepare – preparing means more than reading the home page – because as this example shows you can make a site that looks trustworthy in a few hours. The right advice will be – if the job is too good to believe, it is probably fake.

At Comoto.com we also regret every time one of our users loose an interesting job opportunity to a competing candidate whom might have “blown to much hot air” into his or her CV – therefore we will soon be launching features to support your CV’s quality and ensure the CV will be judged correctly as the right CV it is.

Comoto Funny Friday: Have you ever lied in a CV ….. CV privacy matters!

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Have you ever lied so much in a resume that you are shocked they give you the job………. take care of your CV privacy!

Cool sketch about “Have you ever lied so much in your CV that you was shocked that they gave you the job……” – remember to take care of your CV privacy!

A stand-up comedian named Christela Alonzo has lied about her work at NASA. Hope you never lie in your CV.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7-Sf_hHJYc

Have a Funny Friday and nice weekend, and until next week we hope for the best.

The Comoto Team

Comoto‘s aim is to become “The Central Place” where you can create, clone, copy, manage, backup and distribute your CV and Cover letters fast and easy. To create your first Comoto CV or Resume, signup for free and just add your data (or use one of the many easy import features), pick one of our special designed templates, preview your CV or Resume and finally export to your favourite format (.DOC – .PDF – .PNG) or publish it in a Web Profile (Public/Private). Now you are ready to have full control of your CV or Resume. Notice other unique features – like multiple CV’s or multiple resumes – a few clicks and you can create a CV or Resume targeted for a specific job or Export to many different formats.

The hard life of a CV on a CV Database!

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Have you ever considered what happens with your CV after you have keyed in all the data or submitted your file?

“To begin with, here are the hard facts! Almost nothing will actually happen!”

  • Your data is not read or looked at!
    Nobody looks at your data manually/human maybe your data is checked for relevance on a niche site. Some CV databases count words or do other automatic checks to see if the CV has some substance at all. Funny email addresses can be deleted – else they only look of those not fulfilling atomized test or requirements like having an email accepting a welcome mail, word counts above X words, certain words in the text or similar. See more comments about this here.
  • Your data is made searchable!
    Often not very advanced search features will make it difficult to find you – any spelling errors in your data? Or maybe if someone is looking for a sales director would perhaps find your references title instead of yours! If you have only attached a CV file the likelihood it will ever be used is limited! How can someone find anything useable from indexed word or pdf files?
  • Your data is not tested for quality!
    No CV databases do any tests or check the quality of your data or even comment your likelihood of getting a job. A few niche CV databases do some checks just to test if your CV is relevant for the niche.
  • Your data is often being sold!
    Or rather access to your data is being sold to recruiters, headhunters and/or companies – all looking for that particular person for that particular job. They don’t spend much time looking at the data therefore make sure the data is precise and updated. They often have access to more than one source.
  • Your data is like milk – short lifespan!
    A fresh one is better than an old on. CV database holders talk about “freshness” – now you know why you get all of these mails from the CV database – the want you to update and be active as the customers of the CV database values “freshness”. See my comments here.
  • Your data is used to get in contact with you (if you’re that lucky)!
    Make sure the contact details are correct (and as source for finding people LinkedIn is good)
  • Your data is often used to find someone instead of you!
    Maybe your CV shows you are the manager of the type they need or they need your boss instead and wants names – maybe that explains why you are not contacted after the first contact.
  • Your data is not relevant anymore (you have a new job)!
    What happens if you get a new job? Wants to focus on that and don’t spent time updating CV databases for a while – delete your profile – if you can! Many CV databases puts focus on the numbers of CV’s in their marketing they hate when people delete their CV and therefore deleting a CV can be tedious, difficult or even not possible (remember in many countries you have to accept with a fixed frequency to be regarded as active – but what happens if you say no – are you deleted, is your CV deleted and you stay in the newsletter database?

The above illustrates that getting a job just being a passive member on several CV databases might not be the best way to get the job you want – be (pre-)active and use Comoto to handle your active job searching process and use Comoto to ensure you data on every CV database is the same and updated.

Also remember to be judged on a full CV – not just a short profile describing the past – show your goals and achievement to be sure you get a better job than the current you might have and hereby a new job that develops you.

Cyberstalking – a new trend or? (UK tekst)

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Cyberstalking a new trend or?

Cyberstalking –  is that a new fitness trend to loose weight, a new Hollywood movie or something you should know and have the proper precautions against !

Maybe cyberstalking sounds interesting and nothing you think of as a factor you should need to consider in your day to day use of computers and the Internet.

First – a definition: Cyberstalking is the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk or harass. Harass means when the possession of information is sufficient to cause or have caused another reasonable person distress.

I believe most of us have tried to receive a subscription or other stuff we never ordered just because somebody felt it was either a good joke or a necessary annoyance they wanted to put on us – but what if it takes another and much more serious character and really becomes a problem for you. Our authorities and our legal systems seems to be one step behind the people trying to gain something out off cyberstalking. With regards to how to handle both the technology and methods used you should consider how to avoid or limit the threat.

Therefore with regards to your CV you should consider how the behave and how any of your information can be misused

  • First and foremost – never ever show personal identification numbers, bank information and the like – seems obvious but have you never mailed that information? In Denmark we have a personal number combined of our birthday and some other digits and often it is needed to send to someone in an mail. I have made it a habit only to send the first digits and in a call informing the receiver about the other numbers.
  • Should you show your full address – often it is needed and can be found if needed. I don’t think you can avoid it being found but at least make it more difficult and not easily read by a simple scraper or another type of a computer automatized system searching for full information about a person.
  • Should you show your email address – again often it is needed and can be found if needed. I don’t think you should avoid it being found but at least make it more difficult to read automatically. Why not show your email address as a small graphic file or without the @ (type [at] instead).
  • Use the same line of thoughts – should the information be public, limited to a defined group or made password protected or not shown at all (hereby I hope you can see another use of the Comoto multiple CV and multiple profile (protected or not) features.

One of the most often used information to harass you with is when somebody is spreading false accusations or are encouraging others to harass you maybe after having attempted to gather information about you – consider the situation that somebody at work wants the promotion so badly they are digging for dirt about you – not only the drunk picture at Facebook can do you harm (maybe it is funny among your colleagues but the boss thinks differently), a search on the Internet shows different CV stating titles / responsibilities in the past – just consider the examples and take the necessary precautions and for the time proper precautions is all I suggest because it is a question about finding the right balance and neither be too risky or live in a technological solitude.

How can I make the right decision in regards to my privacy! (UK tekst)

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How can I make the right decision between having my full information made public, limited access or no access – some of the privacy factors to consider!

privacy

Finding the right balance between having detailed information public available on the net or not – taking the benefits and risks into consideration should involve several factors

  • The proper balance depends on your situation / wishes and will change over time and should be flexible and easy to change
    Make it easy to change between being public and not – ensure you can change accessibility or can delete / pause your presence at every CV database or Profile network you use
  • The level of details should also be taken into consideration and be part of your planning
    What is  the purpose – relationship building, personal branding, experience marketing or job searching.  There are different sites and or tools for each purpose – one size does fit it all!
  • The freshness and correctness in the information should be considered carefully – to make it manageable
    Besides relevant for your purpose, remember the more detailed you get, the more difficult it is to update and to ensure consistency in the data – ignoring  this can have a substantial consequence as a serious reader would pick the next candidate,  if the information creates more confusion.
  • The general risk for any harassment’s from public information should be considered thoroughly
    Need to show your full address ?
    Need to show phone (all) numbers ?

Please do have in mind that if your CV information is public it will indexed by search engines and can also be found by any spammer. It would be rather simple not to show your email or obscure it by writing it as name[at]domain[dot]com or to show your name and email as a graphic file instead of text, these  just to mention a few easy steps. Same principles applies for text formats – does it need to be as an editable text– or could it for instance  be a non-editable PDF document?

I would also recommend some sort of read analysis – does anybody actually read the information – if not why not just close it down or change  – and remember to update or change the text on a regular basis as it would drive more attention towards that specific document.

When developing Comoto it was evident for us that we had to make it possible for you to have several CV’s and give you the control if they should be either public or password protected – thus  giving you not only full control of accessibility but also over the level of details  – and we also make it easy for you to ensure consistency in your data with our inheritance of data from one CV to another CV.

Does privacy really matters with your CV

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Does privacy really matters – it does for Microsoft and Europol – and for Comoto ?

At CES in 2010 Microsoft put new emphasis on your browser privacy – especially how misuser’s can be tracking your information (identity-theft) and how you can control your web privacy better (more here).

Europol have also made 3 new reports public that emphasize that the Internet threat is not only very evident – it is also increasing (more here). In other words privacy matters – take control of your information.

You have probably also heard the problems Facebook have had with privacy matters some time ago, even Google have had their issues with privacy (Street View in Google Maps). Users on the Internet are demanding more privacy or you could say that they want the freedom to choose their own privacy level.

That is exactly what we are trying to do at Comoto – let you, the owner of the data, choose your own privacy level. We have always been keen of ensuring that you have full control of your CV after all it is data about you and it is your data. You can control who can see what and when. You are in full control with a line by line setting of the privacy surrounding your CV. You can even make a CV / Web / Online profile password protected, so that only people having that specific password will be able to see your Web Profile. An remember you have the opportunity to have multiple CV’s, each with their own privacy seetings.

We are trying to safeguard your privacy, for your sake. So take full control over your CV and sign-up for your own CV manager here.