October 2009

As promised, I am addressing the issue of having too much information about yourself online. Now, in order to be too much it needs to be one of two things: (1) pornographic/”distasteful” or (2) gives a serial killer the ability to hunt you down and kill you in your sleep. So basically keep naked pictures and your address off the web and your good to go.

Example: I wrote a poem when I was 10 that was published in Highlights for Kids. It is atrocious. No, really. And it’s one of the first things that comes up when you Google me. For months I was convinced that no one was hiring me because I wrote a simile filled poem about dragons and princesses. However, I am now using this to my advantage. Technically I was published at the age of 10. That’s impressive, right? I have a freelancer profile on mediabistro and I brag about my “first byline”. That’s right. I said it.

On to the contact info. For a while I had a downloadable copy of my resume on my website that, like most resumes, has my address. I know you can look that stuff up in the phone book, but still. Looking back it was kind of dumb. Anyway, I ended up taking it down, posting a line about emailing me for a copy. That way I only sent out copies to people who contacted me from legit work addresses.

But I kept my phone number online. My personal cell phone number. Because if someone wanted to schedule an interview after seeing my website, I wanted to make it as easy as possible for them to contact me. Which is smart. But also dumb. If you go to my website now you will see it is down. Why? Let me tell you…

Once upon a time I was sitting in my room doing my usual cold calling/resume writing/emailing routine when my phone rings. Yay! I thought, I have no friends so it must be an employer. It was not.
A heavy Indian accent greeted me. “Hello, is this Marian Schembari?”
“This is she.”
“My name is Bladdy Blah and I am calling from Bombay, India. How are you?”
“Fine. What can I do for you Mr. Blah?”
“I am calling to hear your opinion on the publishing industry.”
“Um… Why?”
“Do you not have a publishing website? In America?”
“Yes. But I am unemployed.”
“Oh.”
End of phone call.

Okay, that was weird. But whatever, and I continued with my day. Five minutes later and the phone rings again. This time from a number in New Jersey. Cool! John Wiley is in New Jersey!
Me (breathless and excited): “Hello?”
Same heavy accent: “Hello.”
Me, exasperated and mightily pissed off: “Can I help you, sir?”
“Who is this?”
“Um… You called me! Remember?”
“What are you doing?” (this was said in a very creepy, very sleazy, “what are you wearing” kind of way)
“What are YOU doing?”
Silence.
Him: “What are you doing?”
Me: “What are YOU doing?”
Etc.

After an abrupt end to this fascinating dialog, I proceeded to delete my phone number off my website. No, not a scary story – I think Mr. Blah was either a sales person or very lonely. Both options kind of creep me out.

Anyway, the point to this story is that the most random people CAN get access to your info if it’s available online. But you want to make it easy for potential employers to contact you. Some tips to avoid the dilemma:

• If you want to post a phone number, maybe get a second line. But that’s expensive and the jobless are usually not rolling in dough. So I’d keep the number off your website. But give a link to your email as a contact and you can provide a resume with a contact number there.
• Email. Once it’s online, you will be rolling in spam, not cash, so tread carefully. Either post a link to your email or use this format: maschembari [at] gmail [dot] com. Helps block the spammers.
• Photos. I have my photo posted on my site because I think it makes it more personal. And most people post photos on LinkedIn so unless you’ve also posted your address, private number and birth certificates, I think the rapists may be kept at bay.
• For God’s sake, fix your damn Facebook. You know who you are.

The end.

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