Last month’s nugget of wisdom, Don’t Spam Your CV, generated mixed reviews. Some people thought it was a good tip, others thought that spamming your CV is a necessary part of the job search.

Over dinner with friends a few weeks ago, including my Don’t Spam Your CV Banker friend, we started talking about this piece of advice. One of the guys at the table (a former banker turned entrepreneur) disagreed with the Banker and said you need exposure, especially when you’re job hunting. He knows a lot of highly qualified people who are brilliant, but no one knows who they are. Nowadays, he commented, your next job comes through connections, so people need to know your skills and putting your CV out there is the way to do it.

Another friend at the table had been interviewing for a job within a top bank. After several weeks of interviewing with several people in the organisation, she did not receive the job offer (they went with someone more junior). She did well in her interviews and has great experience. As a result the HR department asked if they could send her CV for other job positions within the bank. She decided she did not want her CV spammed, and ask that they consult with her before forwarding it to others.

One Maven Musings reader, Mark, thought that “being coy when you are job hunting could be imperfect advice to the majority of people who do not have your professional confidence, stability, authority and experience.” (thanks for the compliment by the way!) He points to a “useful feature on some job sites …that can actually block specific companies or organisations from viewing your details or CV…which may remove the anxiety of your current boss finding out that you are contemplating jumping ship.”

One thing that has become clear from all the comments and conversations I’ve had since the post is that Don’t Spam Your CV is relevant for people who have good, stable jobs and who can afford to be picky about their next move.

For some people, particularly those that currently do not have a job or who haven’t built a strong network yet, the opposite advice holds: DO spam your CV.

If you do have a job and your boss somehow finds out you are looking, one friend suggested you blame it on your previous job search. “Oh no, I’m not looking for a job! It must have been the headhunters who put it out there without my approval.”

It sounds deceiving, but sometimes that does happen, which is why the Banker suggested you hand it out sparingly in the first place.

Bottom line: Some job searches require you to spam your CV.