Monster.com Data Breach: Share Your Reaction

I posted a story this morning about the Monster.com data breach, which the job search site disclosed late last week. The story—and the data theft—raise two questions: 1) Will security breaches like the one that took place at Monster.com make job seekers more careful about sharing their work histories and contact information online, and 2) Will job seekers’ reluctance to share information dilute the effectiveness of those sites? I wanted to pose those questions to you, my thoughtful, vocal readers. 

I think security breaches could lessen the effectiveness of job search sites. If the growing number of data thefts causes job seekers to remove personal information such as their phone numbers, e-mail addresses and details of their work history, they may become harder for recruiters and hiring managers to find. If job seekers and employers can’t find each other on these sites, then that certainly lessens job search sites’ effectiveness. 

On the other hand, job seekers can be pretty enterprising, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they found a way to make their skills and experience visible and themselves available to prospective employers while also keeping their data safe. Hopefully the job search sites themselves will come up with such a solution for job seekers. (And fast! This is not a good time for job seekers to not feel confident about using online job boards.)

If any of you have Monster.com accounts, has the data breach made you think twice about the information you share on job search sites? Are you going to be stripping your profiles of certain personal, professional or contact information? Do you think removing certain information from your profile will make it harder for recruiters and hiring managers to get in touch with job seekers on these sites, and thus render them less effective?

Let me know what you think. And thanks!