I'm looking to find a new job, but feel boxed in by my current employer's secrecy and am getting conflicting suggestions on how to handle with it.

I've worked for an IT outsourcing company for 4 years, my only serious job so far, and want to move onto something better. But I don't know how to approach describing the job on my resume or applications. I'm not supposed to discuss exactly what I do with anyone outside the company, so I already figured I can describe programs used, promotions, etc.

However, to verify I do/did in fact work at my current job, I assume the prospective employer would need a reference from that company. I'm getting conflicting suggestions from people I know on how to deal with this. My boss said they want to know when people are looking for a new job to prepare for it, but everyone I've talked to says not to say anything to my employer about it until I give my 2 weeks' notice regardless.

One person says screw the secrecy rule and describe it in detail anyway, but I'm afraid that could easily blow up in my face. Another person says don't spell anything out in detail, and use a reference from the company other than my boss and ask them to keep quiet about it, but I'm not particularly close to anyone there so I don't think that will work. If I disregarded the advice, I could tell my boss I'm looking for another job and hopefully use them as a reference, but I've been told that will likely cause bad things for me with my employer.

What is the best option? Or is there another I'm not seeing?

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