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In what it described as an effort to comply with government regulations, Monster.com will soon begin deleting certain references on users' resumes to nations not in good diplomatic standing with the United States.
Starting on Thursday, the job site will remove listings selected from its scroll-down menus -- used when creating or modifying a resume -- that refer to seven countries: Burma/Myanmar, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.
In an e-mail sent to affected account holders, Monster said it was making the changes to comply with the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, and some states, that "maintain sanctions which prohibit U.S. companies from conducting certain business activities with organizations located in or residents of" the seven countries.
"We just want to be in full compliance with federal regulations," said Kevin Mullins, spokesman for Monster.com, which has more than 26 million resumes in its database. He said the change will affect fewer than one percent of the site's users.
Mullins said the policy change is meant only to apply to selections entered into drop-down menus on the Monster.com site, where members choose from a pre-set list of countries in response to questions about their job history or employment goals. Users who selected those nations in the past will have the references deleted.
However, members will be able to include references to the seven countries in other sections of the resume-building site meant for storing more detailed information about their education or work experience, Mullins said.
Ali Moayedian, who helps run a website for Iranian Americans, said many Monster users were led by the company's e-mail message to believe that they could not have any references to the seven sanctioned countries on their resumes.
"It says if the nation is on your resume it will be deleted," he said.
Richard M. Smith, an Internet security consultant, said he believes Monster.com is "misinterpreting the intention of the sanctions" by removing names of countries from its members' records.
"My impression is that sometimes legal departments in companies go overboard and do things that are not in the interests of the company," he said, adding that the new policy could alienate users.
Mullins said that's not Monster.com's intent.
"We're not trying to discriminate against people who are originally from those countries or have an education in those countries," Mullins said.
Rather, he said, the company wants to make sure people do not use its site to do business with companies or individuals in countries that are subject to U.S. sanctions.
