Protect Your Privacy When Job-hunting Online

　　Identity theft and identity fraud are terms usedto refer to all types of crime in which someonewrongfully obtains and uses another person’spersonal data in some way that involves fraud ordeception, typically for economic gain.

　　The numbers associated with identity theft are beginning to add up fast these days. Arecent General Accounting Office report estimates that as many as 750,000 Americans arevictims of identity theft every year. And that number may be low, as many people choose notto report the crime even if they know they have been victimized.

　　Identity theft is “an absolute epidemic,” states Robert Ellis Smith, a respected author andadvocate of privacy. “It’s certainly picked up in the last four or five years. It’s worldwide. Itaffects everybody, and there’s very little you can do to prevent it and, worst of all, you can’tdetect it until it’s probably too late.”

　　Unlike your fingerprints, which are unique to you and cannot be given to someone else fortheir use, you personal data, especially your social security number, your bank account orcredit card number, your telephone calling card number, and other valuable identifying data, can be used, if they fall into the wrong hands, to personally profit at your expense. In theUnited States and Canada, for example, many people have reported that unauthorized personshave taken funds out of their bank or financial accounts, or, in the worst cases, taken overtheir identities altogether, running up vast debts and committing crimes while using thevictims’ names. In many cases, a victim’s losses may included not only out-of-pocket financiallosses, but substantial additional financial costs associated with trying to restore hisreputation in the community and correcting erroneous information for which the criminal isresponsible.

　　According to the FBI, identity theft is the number one fraud committed on the Internet. So how do job seekers protect themselves while continuing to circulate their resumes online? The key to a successful online job search is learning to manager the risks. Here are some tipsfor staying safe while conducting a job search on the Internet.

　　1. Check for a privacy policy.

　　If you are considering posting your resume online, make sure the job search site your areconsidering has a privacy policy, like CareerBuilder.com. The policy should spell out how yourinformation will be used, stored and whether or not it will be shared. You may want to thinktwice about posting your resume on a site that automatically shares your information withothers. You could be opening yourself up to unwanted calls from solicitors (推销员).

　　When reviewing the site’s privacy policy, you’ll be able to delete your resume just aseasily as you posted it. You won’t necessarily want your resume to remain out there on theInternet once you land a job. Remember, the longer your resume remains posted on a jobboard, the more exposure, both positive and not-so-positive, it will receive.

　　2. Take advantage of site features.

　　Lawful job search sites offer levels of privacy protection. Before posting your resume, carefully consider your job search objective and the level of risk you are willing to assume.

　　CareerBuilder.com, for example, offers three levels of privacy from which job seekers canchoose. The first is standard posting. This option gives job seekers who post their resumes themost visibility to the broadest employer audience possible.

　　The second is anonymous (匿名的) posting. This allows job seekers the same visibility asthose in the standard posting category without any of their contact information beingdisplayed. Job seekers who wish to remain anonymous but want to share some otherinformation may choose which pieces of contact information to display.

　　The third is private posting. This option allows a job seeker to post a resume withouthaving it searched by employers. Private posting allows job seekers to quickly and easily applyfor jobs that appear on CareerBuilder.com without retyping their information.

　　3. Safeguard your identity.

　　Career experts say that one of the ways job seekers can stay safe while using the Internetto search out jobs is to conceal their identities. Replace your name on your resume with ageneric (泛指的) identifier, such as “Intranet Developer Candidate,” or “Experienced MarketingRepresentative.”

　　You should also consider eliminating the name and location of your current employer. Depending on your title, it may not be all that difficult to determine who you are once thename of your company is provided. Use a general description of the company such as “Majorauto manufacturer,” or “International packaged goods supplier.”

　　If your job title is unique, consider using the generic equivalent instead of the exact titleassigned by your employer.

　　4. Establish and email address for your search.

　　Another way to protect your privacy while seeking employment online is to open up anemail account specifically for your online job search. This will safeguard your existing emailbox in the event someone you don’t know gets hold of your email address and shares it withothers.

　　Using an email address specifically for you job search also eliminates the possibility thatyou will receive unwelcome emails in your primary mailbox. When naming your new emailaddress, be sure that it doesn’t contain references to your name or other information that willgive away your identity. The best solution is an email address that is relevant to the jobyou are seeking such as Salesmgr2004@provider.com

　　5. Protect your reference.

　　If your resume contains a section with the names and contact information of yourreferences, take it out. There’s no sense in safeguarding your information while sharing privatecontact information of your references.

　　6. Keep confidential (机密的) information confidential.

　　Do not, under any circumstances, share your social security, driver’s license, and bankaccount numbers or other personal information, such as race or eye color. Honest employers donot need this information with an initial application. Don’t provide this even if they say theyneed it in order to conduct a background check. This is one of the oldest tricks in the book – don’t fall for it.

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

　　46.Using a special email address in the job search can help prevent you from receivingunwelcome emails in your primary mailbox.

　　47.In many cases, identity theft not only causes the victims immediate financial losses butcosts them a lot to restore their reputation.

　　48.Employers don t require applicants to submit very personal information on backgroundchecks.

　　49.Robert Ellis Smith believes identity theft is difficult to detect and one can hardly doanything to prevent it.

　　50.Identity theft is the first fraud committedon the Internet.

　　51.It is important that your resume not stay online longer than is necessary.

　　52.There are three options offered by CareerBuilder.com in Suggestion 2.

　　53.Applicants are advised to use generic names for themselves and their current employerswhen seeking employment online.

　　54.To protect your references, you should not post online their names and contact information.

　　55.According to the passage, identity theft is committed typically for economic gain.