Assuming that if the cubicles next to yours are vacant, it is safe to use a normal conversational tone on the phone for your job search discussions: Sound travels in strange ways, depending on the structure of the building, time of day, etc. Someone sitting two rows over from you might still be able to hear your conversation.

Confiding in co-workers at your company about your plans, even if you have reason to believe those people are also “looking”: People you think you know can become unreliable. Maybe you have known them for years and trust them implicitly. Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can depend on their discretion. Whether or not they mean to reveal your secret to the company, it can still happen through a slip of the tongue. Ask yourself whether having them know is worth the risk of exposure.

Asking for copies of your past performance evaluations without a solidly plausible excuse: If you have been receiving performance reviews, you should have kept a copy of them at the time they were given and stored them where you had easy access to them (at home, not at work). However, if you didn’t do that, asking for them can raise a red flag unless you can give a good reason, such as preparing for an upcoming review and wanting to go over past reports to refresh your memory.

Posting your CV/resume on Internet job boards that are accessible to all companies, including your own: Generally speaking, job boards will not guarantee confidentiality—even those that offer some kind of confidential option—and there are few limitations on access except a company’s willingness to pay a search fee, if there is one. You can try removing readily identifiable information from your resume before posting it and also using an innocuous email address, but that’s not an ironclad protection.

Failing to emphasize to recipients of your CV/resume the fact that your search is highly confidential and your information must be protected: You might want to assume that intelligence and commonsense rule the actions of recruiters, company HR staff, etc., but it is a dangerous assumption in a confidential search. You need to tell them in plain English—and in writing—that it is a confidential search and your current employer is not to be made aware of it.

Contacting your company’s customers and competitors without careful forethought and discretion: It may well be that your employer’s customers and competitors are some of your prime targets for the job search, because your current experience and knowledge could be very useful to them. However, it is important that you exercise caution in selecting and approaching both the companies and the individuals you want to contact, especially if you work in an industry or market-area that is a close-knit community.

Not keeping family members “in the loop” about what’s going on and about the importance of maintaining secrecy in front of “outsiders”: Close family members have a right to know about something that is likely to affect their future as well as your own. However, if they don’t realize the sensitivity of the search, they may inadvertently reveal your activities to someone whom you definitely prefer to keep in ignorance—such as your employer!

Giving your company phone number—landline or cell—as a contact point, even if it is a direct line used just by you: Company communications media (including voice mail) are risky tools in a confidential search, partly because they are not totally private and secure. Companies can and do access them if they feel they have a reason to. Your personal cell phone, if you have one, and/or your home phone number are much safer tools. There are also potential ethical issues about using company resources for your search (this applies to points #9 and #10 as well).

Using company email to send and receive job-search communications and doing Internet searches at work: The same argument applies about company access to these items as for the phone system. You can’t protect them against scrutiny by the company, and even if you delete email messages, they can be retrieved in a variety of ways. As many people know by now, sites you visit via your company computer can also be tracked, and job-search sites would be a complete giveaway of your activities.

Storing copies of your job search materials on your office computer or anywhere at work in physical (hard-copy) form: It is a big mistake to have your confidential information even potentially discoverable at work, no matter how careful you think you’re being about it. Over-cautiousness on all fronts is a decided virtue in a confidential job search!