The Confidentiality Conundrum

One of my former clients, a senior associate at a prominent local law firm, was eager to go “in-house.” She joined the local chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (www.acc.com) in order to network at its monthly local luncheons. At her first luncheon, she was seated next to the general counsel of a major local corporation and proceeded to impress him with her eagerness to work for a company such as his employer. He asked her for her resume and later that evening showed the resume to his wife who, it turned out, was a partner at our client’s law firm.

The moral of this story is: you cannot be too careful. If you are conducting a clandestine job search unbeknownst to your employer and colleagues, be careful with whom you share any information. Know to whom you are revealing your career concerns and desires and to whom you give your resume.