Ask HN: Maintaining Privacy While Job Hunting

Sometimes admitting that you're looking for a job sounds embarrassing in public (at least online it doesn't feel so lonely), but being poor at networking means the alternative is looking online for work. I used to let headhunters bug me, but I keep getting emails from strange foreign headhunters (Akhmed wants my private details) who I've never sent my info to (and don't want to). The alternative is either searching company sites one-by-one (the hard way) or going to sites like Monster and posting a resume hoping to be detected by someone actually looking to hire and not merely harvest (which is what happened). At what point do you say "no" to info grabbing? When do you stop filling out a form and ask yourself what's too much? And finally, if you have a private website, how do you make yourself look interesting (esp. to those HR types who are looking for a "culture fit" when their job ad calls for a techie) without giving away intimate details? Or am I really just asking for an oxy-moron... (probably) (And please, no-one suggest LinkedIn. I deleted my account as it was being used as a spy tool for unwanted parties.)