If you are searching while employed — most people are — set the blocked-companies list before you run anything.
A large employer posts a lot of roles. An agent that reaches out on your behalf can land on your own company without you noticing, and message someone there about a job somewhere else. In your name.
That is the case the block exists for. Not a rare edge.
What the block actually does
Adding a company does two things:
- It stays off the board you browse
- It is checked again at the moment outreach would start, so a company you block after seeing a listing still cannot be contacted
A filter that only hides jobs, and forgets at send time, is a display setting. The check has to happen at both.
Block first. Then search. Undoing a message to your own office is not a feature.
Who else belongs on it
- Close competitors, if a note could travel back through the industry to your manager
- Anywhere with unfinished business — a bad exit, an open reference, a place where contact would complicate something else
- Companies you already know you would not join, so the week's outreach is spent where a reply would be good news
The order
The list only protects you if it exists before the first send. It takes about half a minute. Do it before the first role, not after the one that made you nervous.