By Chelsea Babin

Most professionals find that it’s easier, less stressful, and generally better to continue working at their current job while searching for their next opportunity. This minimizes financial strain and maximizes the ability to be selective throughout their job searches. However, searching for a new job while continuing to work in your current job isn’t necessarily easy. It’s important to keep your job search discreet if you’re hoping to stay on good terms with your current boss and keep your current job until you’ve found your next opportunity. Here are the 6 best tips we’ve found for conducting a discreet job search:

1. Professionalism and Priorities at Your Current Job: When you start to slack off at your current job it can be a dead giveaway that you’re ready to move on and pursue other opportunities. If you’d like to keep your job search discreet, make sure to continue to prioritize your work and maintain professionalism every day in the office. While you don’t necessarily have to go the extra mile to compensate for the fact that you’ll be leaving soon, it’s important not to reduce your productivity during this time because it could signal that you’re conducting a job search or it could just get you fired.

2. Personal Accounts and Personal Time: Don’t leave a trail of breadcrumbs in your work email, your work computer’s browser history, or even on your work phone for your boss to accidentally stumble across. If you’re going to conduct a discreet job search you’ll need to do it during your personal time and using only your personal accounts. Even if you’re certain your boss doesn’t monitor your email or internet usage it’s a professional courtesy that keeps you focused on your current job while you’re working and separates the process to maintain secrecy.

3. Keep Quiet: Job searches can be an exciting, frustrating, and emotional time that lead to venting or the desire to chat about what you’re going through to anyone who will listen. However, if you’d like to keep your job search discreet, the best favor you can do for yourself is to tell as few people as possible. This information should only be shared with your immediate family, a close friend, your recruiter, the companies you apply to, and maybe a reference or a professional contact. Word gets around if you let it and if you’re trying to keep your job search private it’s best to keep quiet.

4. Schedule Interviews Wisely: Congratulations! An employer saw your resume and was impressed. They’re ready to schedule an interview with you and are wondering when you’re available. Scheduling interviews is one of the trickiest aspects of a discreet job search because, on one hand, you don’t want to miss a vital meeting or important day at your current job but, on the other hand, you want to be amendable to your future employer’s schedule so that they don’t find someone else for the job before you’re available to come in. Using personal time off, scheduling multiple interviews on the same day, or scheduling interviews early in the morning, late in the evening, or during your lunch hour are a few great strategies for scheduling interviews while keeping your job search discreet.

5. Bring a Change of Clothes for Interviews: One dead giveaway, particularly for IT professionals who get to wear jeans to work, is coming in one day all dressed up for an interview you have scheduled later or coming into the office from a morning off wearing a tie. While you certainly want to dress to impress for your interview, the best thing you can do is bring a change of clothes to work or schedule enough time to swing by your house and change before your scheduled interview time.

6. Don’t Let Social Media Spill the Beans: It’s a good rule of thumb to keep all of your personal social media accounts private but, as an added precaution, it’s a good idea not to post, “Going to an interview, wish me luck!” Keeping your job search discreet means keeping it off of your social media posts until you’ve successfully accepted a new offer and resigned from your current job.

Searching for a new job can seem like a daunting task, particularly when you’re juggling that job search with the responsibilities from your current job and a personal life, but keeping it a secret doesn’t have to be as challenging as you might think. If you’re ready to start your discreet job search, use these 6 tips and take a look at our job opportunities today!