Career
Looking for work while you are still employed
Mostly a question of discretion and logistics, with a few points where carelessness has real consequences.
Use personal equipment, a personal email address and personal time. Employer systems are generally monitored lawfully, and a search conducted on them is both discoverable and, in many workplaces, a policy breach in itself.
On professional networks, settings exist to limit who sees profile activity, and turning off update notifications before revising a profile avoids announcing the search. Recruiters can still find the profile; colleagues are simply not notified.
Interviews scheduled early, late or during leave avoid an unexplained pattern of absence. Asking an employer to keep an application confidential is normal and generally respected, but it has to be requested explicitly.
References are the point where a search becomes visible. Offering former colleagues rather than a current manager is standard, and most employers understand why a current manager is only approached after an offer.
What to do next. Keep the search entirely on personal accounts and devices, and ask any prospective employer to treat the application as confidential.
studentaid.gov outranks this page. Rules, figures and dates change
between academic years. This is written to help you read the official sources, not to
stand in front of them. Start there.
Nothing here is a determination. We cannot tell you what you qualify
for, and no website can. The programme and the office that runs it decide that, after
you apply.
Still have a question?
Describe what you are trying to work out and a member of the team will answer, or direct you to the office that makes the decision.