Monster Mistake

A big kerfuffle when Michelle reported a Monster marketing manager had send a spam email around to members of IT@Cork. Damien covered the incident when Michelle was threatened with legal action. News of the incident started spreading not just around Ireland but around the globe. Eventually saner voices prevailed and a different Monster representative issued an apology.

Lots of lessons in this incident
• Key lesson is when in a hole you stop digging. If you’ve goofed, don’t go on the attack. Try and see how you can stop the damage spreading. An apology usually helps

• If you feel you’re under attack, don’t take action right away, sleep on it and talk to some one you know with a logical and calm approach.

• Know what you put on the internet is public. In this instance the conversations were recorded and put on the internet. Lex Ferenda even put it to music- the monster mash!

• When emailing lots of people, always use the BCC option. This means each person only sees their email address, and not the email addresses of 99 other people. As unencrypted email is not secure, using BCC maintains privacy and helps prevent yet more spam.

• With the exception of gmail your email address can quickly be used to find your IP address, which generally gives clues to your organisation. So don’t email from work as our Monster Manager did if you want to remain anonymous .

• If you have responsibility for, or access to personal data, (email addresses count as personal data in many circumstances) Make sure you’re familiar with the provisions of both the Data Protection Act and your own organisation’s policies and procedures.


Job boards such as Monster really help the job search process, but in America there’s examples of boards being used to steal people’s identities. To see advice on how you can avoid this from Careerhub Click here.
Given the lack of understanding shown by Monster of the importance of protecting personal data on this and other reported incidents I’d wait for future developments to see do their standards improve before registering with them.



Key words
career builder Ireland
monster Ireland Spam
career guidance Ireland
career training Ireland