Job searching when you’re employed comes with plenty of advantages: employers often prefer employed candidates; you don’t have to explain why you’re not currently working; and you have the option of staying at your current job if your search doesn’t work out.

But job searching while employed also means that you usually need to keep your search hidden from your current employer, since many managers bristle when they find that an employee is trying to move on. (Some managers are supportive or at least tolerant, but they’re in the minority.) Too often, having your job search outed to your manager can lead to uncomfortable conversations, being pushed off of desirable projects or even being pushed out of your job earlier than you wanted to leave.

So how can you keep your job search off your manager’s radar? Here are eight guidelines for keeping your search on the down low.

1. Be careful about what you put on LinkedIn. If you change your LinkedIn profile to indicate that you’re actively searching, not only might your employer stumble across it, but if your activity broadcasts are turned on, your manager might even get an email about it! You can prevent that from happening by turning off your activity broadcasts in your privacy settings.

A smart strategy for LinkedIn is to keep your profile up-to-date all the time, so that it’s not a sudden change when you start searching. Otherwise, your manager may wonder why you’ve suddenly done major work on it. And speaking of social media …

2. Don’t tweet, blog or post on Facebook about your search. It might sound obvious, but job seekers often forget that they’ve friended their co-workers on Facebook, or that their tweets are public. If you must post about your job search, make sure you have iron-clad privacy settings and that you know exactly who can see your posts – and even then, it’s a risk.

3. Schedule interviews first thing in the morning or as late in the day as possible. Your manager will likely notice if you’re suddenly out of the office for multiple midday appointments. While some of that is uncontrollable, to the extent that you can, try to schedule interviews for the least disruptive times. Many employers are willing to accommodate employed job candidates by offering interview times at the very start or end of the day.

4. Don’t use your company computer, email or other resources to job search. You might think it’s fine to browse job postings on your work computer during lunch, but many employers monitor Internet use and will be able to figure out you’re job searching by seeing the sites you browse. Similarly, don't print out your résumé on your company printer, even after hours; the risk is too high that someone will see it there.

5. Avoid conducting phone interviews from work. If you have the option of working from home on occasion, the day of a phone interview is a good time to do it. Otherwise, take the call in your car, from a coffee shop or any other space that isn’t right in the middle of your co-workers.

6. Don’t post your résumé on online job boards. The risk is too high that someone from your current employer will see it there – after all, your company might search those boards for job candidates, too. This won’t hobble your search too much, because posting your résumé and passively waiting to be contacted isn’t an especially effective strategy anyway.

7. Watch how you dress. In some offices, showing up in a suit for the first time in months is a surefire trigger for questions about whether you have an interview. If you have the luxury of planning in advance, one way around this is to dress up periodically all the time, so that people are used to seeing you in occasional suits and won’t think anything of it. Otherwise, you might need to say it’s laundry day or bring a change of clothes with you.

8. Make sure the employers you’re interviewing with know to keep your search discreet. You don’t need to request discretion with every application – it will look little odd to do that – but in small fields or in cases where a hiring manager knows your current manager, it’s reasonable to explain that your search isn’t public and ask that it be kept confidential.