Optimal Resume Blog

I’ve seriously been waiting an entire year to tell this story.  Last year around Valentine’s Day, I received an interesting call from a customer.  The customer was having trouble accessing their account and needed their password reset.  Simple enough, I thought, until he began explaining why he needed the password reset.  Apparently this user was in the process of a divorce, which wasn’t going very smoothly.  As retaliation, his ex-wife found a way into his Optimal account, changed his login information, and made some creative “updates” to his resume.

Since it was close to Valentine’s Day, I thought this was a prank call at first.  But then I noticed that his resume was loaded with expletives (since we like to keep things PG, you can use your imagination on this), which I’m pretty sure were not recommended in our sample resumes.  The resume damage was extensive, but nothing the “Show History” button couldn’t fix (for those not in the know, clicking Show History lets you revert to a previous save of the resume)

After the resume was restored to its original luster and I bid the customer farewell, I couldn’t help but realize the importance of keeping your account secure.  This person’s resume could have been on a website for employers to see, and had he not called our support line for help, he would have had no way to log in to fix it.  Resumes are a keystone to your job search, and it’s important to take precautions when storing and sharing them.

It’s important to keep some basic tips in mind to protect your resume in Optimal:

1. Change your password regularly.  This is a good practice when storing information on any website.  It’s hard to guess a password which doesn’t stay the same.
2. When using a public computer, log completely out of your account when done.  This will prevent the next computer user from being able to access your resume.
3. Don’t allow others to “piggyback” on your account.  We love seeing users spread the word about our software, but allowing friends to create their resume within your account isn’t an ideal solution.  Job seekers not sponsored by one of our career centers can create an individual account at https://my.optimalresume.com, where they can receive a 24-hour free trial.  By doing this, your login information remains secure, and your colleague can try out our products.

So in honor of Valentine’s Day, show your resume some love.  By following a few simple precautions, you can ensure it stays in the right hands.  As entertaining as that original phone call was, I’d rather not hear from other users with the same story.

Filed under: For Job Seekers, Just For Fun by Katie Lempicke