Privacy FAQs

When we talk about the Monster network, we mean the websites owned or controlled by Monster Worldwide, Inc. These include Monster.com and its foreign job search websites, the Monster Communities, FastWeb.com, Military.com, and any other web property that we create or acquire. Some of these sites may have a different privacy policy than Monster.com, so be sure to check the privacy policy at each site in the Monster network. Information may be shared among companies in the Monster network, but it will always be used as described in the privacy policy of the site where it was collected.

You may have heard that advertising and sales of lists allow many websites to offer services without charge to users. We do sell advertising space on our site as well, but we don’t share your personally identifiable information with marketers unless you give us your consent, such as by responding to an ad on our site or signing up for partner offers. In addition, for a fee, we allow employers to advertise their open positions and search our database of resumes for candidates qualified for those positions.

Monster’s Privacy Policy can be found here. For more detailed information, read the full length policy here. You can always find a link to the Privacy Policy in the footer at the bottom of all Monster web pages.

When you use Monster we store the following information about you in our database:

1. Personal information – information that can be used to identify you.  We only collect this information if you choose to give it to us, such as when you create an account or a profile.  For more information on creating your profile, click here.

2. Demographic information – information that does not uniquely identify you, such as gender, ZIP code, and personal interests.

3. Account-related information:

• Date of account creation
• Date and time of last login
• Date and time of resume creation
• Date and time of last resume modification
• Number of failed login attempts

4.Behavioral information – information about your use of the site:

• Jobs applied to

• Jobs viewed

• Login history

• IP addresses from which you logged in

• Special offers presented

• Special offers accepted

We also collect information about your computer and the way you navigate through the website, including the website that sent you to Monster, and “clickstream” data – the pages you've visited and the places where you’ve clicked on each page.

Monster also buys information about your interests from other companies and uses this information to serve personalized ads to you. 

In addition to the information we store about you in our database, we also store some information on your computer using cookies and we buy information about your interests from third parties. Cookies are used to keep track of your personalized settings and things you’ve seen or done on the site. Cookies are saved on your computer, allowing you to delete them any time you want. For more information on cookies, see the FAQs About Our Ads.

We use your information to enable you to apply to jobs, to troubleshoot problems, to prevent fraud, to serve personalized advertising, and to help us improve the services we offer to you. We may also use your information to contact you about Monster site updates, conduct surveys, or informational and service-related communications, including important security updates.

Monster does not sell your personal information to marketers, unless you authorize us to provide marketers with that information. It is a violation of our Terms of Use for companies to purchase access to our resume database and use it for marketing. If a company uses your resume to market products to you, let us know here so we can investigate the matter.

We share your information with third parties who help us deliver our own products and services to you. These third parties may not use that information for any purpose other than assisting us in providing those products and services.

If you gave us your consent, we may use your information to contact you about other products or services available from our affiliates. With your consent, we may also share your information with third parties who may contact you about their products or services. We also share information where legally required.

Monster keeps your personal information only until you tell us to delete it or until we determine you are no longer using your account. We believe that managing your career is a life-long process and we retain all the information we gather about you in an effort to make your continued use with us more efficient, practical and relevant. At any time you can modify or delete the information you’ve given to us by logging in to your account and making the desired changes or deleting your account.

If you do not log in to your account for an extended period, your account will expire and all applicable account data will be deleted. This includes all of your personal information we have in our database including your profile and your saved resumes and cover letters.

If your account is deleted, you can create a new account. You can use your previously deleted email address and password or you can use a new email and password.

Monster has implemented security measures designed to protect your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration or disclosure. However, the Internet is an open system and we cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will never be able to defeat those measures or use your personal information for improper purposes.

Keep in mind that one of our primary purposes is to provide you with a platform to broadcast your resume and profile widely to employers and to maximize your career opportunities. This environment does present a risk that unauthorized third parties will view your resume, so your resume should not contain any sensitive data including personality profiles or other data that you would not want made public.

For information on how you can protect yourself while using Monster, visit our Security Center.

Yes, Monster uses cookies. For more information on cookies, check out this article.

Monster cookies contain your first name, your state and ZIP code, and your IP address. This is so we can greet you by name when you visit the site, and so we can show you jobs in your area. Monster cookies may also contain authentication information, user preferences, and categories of interest.  Some of this information is encrypted.

Monster uses cookies to track some of your activity on the site. When you search for a job on Monster, we place a cookie on your computer that contains information about the job you looked for. When you visit our site, we read that cookie and use the information in it to show you jobs similar to the ones you previously searched for.

We also buy advertising space on other websites. When you visit a site that has a Monster ad on it, our ad can read your cookie, and we can tailor the ad to show jobs similar to those you have looked at previously. You can read more about these job ads here.

For more information about our use of cookies to show you jobs we think you’d be interested in, read the Privacy Center page About Our Ads.

Monster does not track of your personal activities outside of the Monster network unless you click on a Monster advertisement on another site. If you do, we will keep track of the ad you saw and the site where it was displayed.

No. Our technology decides which jobs to show you based on your cookies, which contain information on the types of jobs you have previously viewed. This process is completely automated and does not involve any human matching. We do review aggregated data to make sure the service is working as intended.

We allow other advertisers to display ads on our site. Their ads are served by their ad networks, and those ads may place a non-Monster cookie on your computer. You can often opt out of these cookies by visiting the advertisers’ website and opting out. Some of these advertisers are part of the Network Advertising Initiative. The NAI allows you to opt out of all its participant ad networks at once. You can do that here. You can decline third-party cookies by changing your browser settings as described in the Monster Privacy Policy.

The table below shows the duration of the common cookie types Monster places on your computer. When we say a cookie is "anonymous" we mean that it is not connected to any of the personal information in your account.

Cookie Type	Duration
Session	Deleted when you close your browser
Security Cookies	60 days
Poll responses	90 days
Alliance cookie	90 days
Information notice	24 months
Monster advertising	24 months

You may also receive cookies from non-Monster advertisers. Monster does not set cookies that come from non-Monster companies. These cookies can last up to 20 years.

You can delete your cookies any time you want and as often as you want. To do so, follow the instructions here. Note that if you delete all of your cookies, you will also delete any opt out cookies that you may have set to prevent tailored advertisements.

Monster uses Flash cookies, also known as Local Shared Objects, but they do not collect or link to any personal information. We use the Flash cookies to save the settings for the videos you watch on our site and to help fight fraud.

We send you emails based on the subscriptions you chose when you created your account, and based on jobs you have searched for. We will also send you account-related emails for issues relating to the use of your account.

You can unsubscribe from Monster emails at any time. Visit your Preferences page and click on the “Communications” ribbon near the bottom of the screen. Note that we will always send you account-related emails. These are necessary to let you know about important notices such as security alerts. If you are a member of a Monster Community, you will need to access your preference page on that community to manage your subscriptions for that site.

Monster does not currently offer the functionality to make your profile public. Your profile information is only accessible by logging into your account.

We use your profile information to help create your resume, match you to job opportunities, provide personalized career advice, and show you targeted advertising. Your profile information also lets you customize your Monster homepage, see recommended jobs based on your interests, and compare your career progress with others in your profession. Click here to go to your profile.

To delete your profile, go to the profile management page. To delete contact and other personal information, click the green "edit" button located on the right side of the page above the "Contact Info" section. To delete information in the "About Me", "Work Experience", "Education & Certifications", and "Career Goals" tabs, mouse over the field you'd like to delete, and choose the "delete" option from the window that pops up.

When you create your resume you'll choose a Resume Status, which determines who can see your resume. You have three choices.

• If you select private, your resume will not be seen by employers conducting resume searches. However, you can use your private resume to apply for jobs.
• If you select confidential, employers will not see your name, your contact information, your current employer, or your references. If you apply for a job directly to a company via a Monster job posting, the information you've marked as confidential will be visible so the employer can contact you.
• If you select a resume status of public, employers and others with access to our database will be able to find your resume and match you to specific jobs.

For more information on resume visibility, check out this article.

When you set your resume to "public", employers and others with access to our database will be able to find your resume and match you to specific jobs. This may include employers anywhere around the world and may include employers that you are not interested in.

When you set your resume to "confidential", we will hide the name and contact information portions of your resume to help protect your privacy. Employers will still be able to contact you through Monster, but they will not know your identity. Please note that if you upload a resume, you will need to manually remove your contact information to hide it from employers.

If you would like to stop hearing from a particular employer, you will need to ask that employer directly to stop contacting you. We only serve as a forum for employers to contact you and are not responsible for managing their contact with you.

Monster does not respond to requests from employers asking for confirmation if an individual has a resume on Monster. However, if your resume is set to public and your employer has purchased a license to search our resume database, your employer may be able to locate your resume.

If you delete a resume, it will be permanently deleted from Monster’s production database and will be irretrievable, except for an archive copy that Monster is required by law to maintain for a period of up to two years. If your resume was searchable by employers, or if you used it to apply online for a job, employers, recruiters, and others who have paid for access to the Monster resume database, as well as parties who have otherwise gained access, may have kept a copy of your resume. Monster is not responsible for the retention, use, or privacy of resumes in these instances. Unless you delete your account, we will still keep any other information you may have given to us.

When you apply to a job through Monster, your resume and application information are sent to the employer that posted the job. If you created a resume while applying to this job, we will save a copy of that resume in our database for your convenience. This copy will be set to private, unless you choose to make it public.

Employers receive your application information via email and also within their applicant tracking folders on Monster. Monster will send you an email to let you know that your application was sent successfully. The employer may separately choose to send you an email confirming receipt of your application. Some employers and recruiters may not respond immediately to your application. After you apply for a job, your complete application will be listed on your Apply History page where you can track its status.

Note: Some employers use the apply button to take you directly to their company website. For those job applications, and for applications that you send directly to employers via email, fax, or postal mail, a record of the application will not show up on your Apply History page.

Employers purchase licenses to search the resume database in order to locate qualified candidates for their job vacancies. If your resume is set to public, it will be included in the searchable portion of the database. Employers may find confidential resumes but will not be able to see your contact information.

Employers search the resume database similar to the way seekers search job postings. Employers are able to search resumes by keyword or for specific skills.

Employers save your resume the same way you save jobs. Resumes are placed in a special folder in the employer’s account so they can be accessed later. Note that if you delete your resume from Monster, it will not be removed from an employer’s folder.

Employers can contact you by sending you a letter electronically through Monster or by using the contact information you have provided on your resume to contact you directly.

Employers may use your application information for a variety of recruitment and hiring purposes. They may use it to contact you about the status of your application. Employers may also enter your information into their own database to track the application and hiring process, and may use your application information to perform a background check.

When you join a Monster Community like PoliceLink or HRPeople, we create an account for you. If you already have a Monster account, you can use your Monster account to log into the selected Monster Community. If you do this, we may use your Monster account information to fill in portions of your profile on the Community site.

When you join a Monster Community, you can choose which information in your profile you would like to be publicly available. Please note that your chosen username will always be shown.

Most of the Monster Community forums are publicly available to all. You should consider anything you post on our forums to be public so make sure you only post things you are comfortable making public.

The Safe Harbor program is the program developed jointly by the European Union and the United States Department of Commerce that allows a company to transfer personal information to from the EU to the United States. To participate in the program, the company must certify that it provides an adequate level of data protection, as required by EU law.

By participating in the Safe Harbor program, Monster demonstrates its commitment to protecting the privacy of its users in both the EU and the United States. For more information, please visit the United States Department of Commerce website for the Safe Harbor program, which can be found here.

Some of our customers use Monster’s private resume database hosting services to store resumes and to run certain applications. If your resume is stored in a customer’s private resume database, then that customer's privacy policies and practices apply to your data. Monster is not responsible for its customers' privacy policies or practices. For more information please see Monster's policy for private resume database hosting.

The TRUSTe privacy seal is a sign of our commitment to respecting your choices about your privacy. For more information about the TRUSTe privacy seal and companies that use it, click here.

For additional FAQs on non-privacy issues, please go to the Monster home page, click on Help at the top of the page and then click on the following link -- Frequently asked questions.

Have a privacy complaint or a privacy question that isn’t answered in the FAQ? Let us know here.