How to job search while employed, without your employer finding out

Practical rules for a confidential search, from LinkedIn settings to interview scheduling.

Searching while you still have a job is the strongest position to negotiate from, and the most delicate one to manage. Most confidential searches don't leak through bad luck. They leak through small, avoidable habits.

Keep it off company property

• Use your personal laptop, phone and email. Never your work account, work device or company network.
• Don't store resumes or offer letters on a company drive.
• Schedule calls from somewhere private, not a meeting room.

Set LinkedIn up for discretion

• Use LinkedIn's "Open to Work" setting visible to recruiters only, rather than the public photo frame. LinkedIn says it tries to hide this from recruiters at your own company, but it can't guarantee it.
• Turn off sharing of profile updates before you edit your headline or experience, so your network doesn't get a notification.
• Update your profile gradually rather than rewriting it overnight.

Never apply to the wrong company

The fastest way to be discovered is an application landing at your own employer, a sister company, a close competitor or a client. Keep a written exclusion list, including subsidiaries, and check every application against it.

Protect your references

Tell prospective employers upfront that your current employer can't be contacted until an offer is signed. Use former managers and colleagues who have left the company as references.

Manage your time, not just your secrecy

• Batch interviews early morning, at lunch or late afternoon, and use personal time off for final rounds.
• Keep doing your current job well. A dip in performance draws more attention than a new headline.
• Don't tell colleagues, however close.

Spend your limited hours on judgment

When you're employed, you have maybe an hour a day for your search. Spend it on decisions (which roles, which companies, what to say) rather than on searching job boards and retyping forms. That is the part worth delegating.