A couple weeks ago, I asked your thoughts on a reader comment about whether you should include a mailing address on your resume. One school of thought is excluding your address might send a red flag to recruiters about your whereabouts. And another is companies don’t really use it – they correspond via email or phone – and it’s unnecessary.
Here’s what our completely unscientific poll results showed:
My take is … at least for the time being … keeping your address on your resume is a smart move. It’s not that companies demand the information but it looks like it might cause someone to wonder when it’s not there. And, when you only have a few seconds to make a good impression to a potential employer, why risk not including it?
That being said, the conversation about addresses on resumes got me thinking. And it’s possible we’ll see more organizations having internal dialogue about addresses. Who knows? At some point in the not too distant future, we might ask ourselves, “Did people really used to include their address on a resume?”
Thanks to the reader who raised the question and everyone who participated in the survey.
0
Darya Jarmola says
I also find it very annoying when preparing an offer, to have to reach out to the candidate just to get their address. There are time when I have 54 minutes to draft the offer to get it signed on time and that is when I realize that the address is not on the resume…. SO I would vote keep it!
Sharlyn Lauby says
That’s the most compelling reason out there for keeping your address on your resume = the offer letter. Thanks for the comment!
Darya Jarmola says
Obviously I did not proof-read my previous comment.
*it should read 4 minutes not 54.
Jason Phillips says
This is an interesting poll question. If I was asked I would have gone with the 33% who doesn’t have any problem with the other two options.
-Jason
Judy D. Cunningham says
I’d rather not when there is an e-mails, what’s the use of it?
Dr. Murad Abel says
Personally I still believe employers want to see an address on a resume. In many cases it gives a sign that the employee is confident, serious, and open to communication. It appears to be a credibility issue.
John G. Self says
If you are detailing with a legitimate recruiter — someone who actually knows what they are doing — not putting your address on a resume is a yellow flag. Why invite distracting questions? Plus, if you are vague with your dates of employment, accomplishments, etc. you quickly move to the tipping point of elimination. In a competitive crowded market, why help the recruiter eliminate you?
Sharlyn Lauby says
Great point John about “yellow flags”. Thanks for sharing!
Alexis M. says
If an applicant chooses not to list their address on their resume it could indicate that their residence is not within a reasonable commuting distance for the job.
An exception to the rule for applicants who do not list an address on their resume is one who happens to be a homeless job seeker and therefore, does not have an address to list.
However, the applicant who DOES have an address but chooses not to list it, might demonstrate poor attendance and leave abuse sooner than later if selected for the position as of result of excessive commuting for the job itself.
Drew says
What a bunch of nonsense. There is absolutely no reason to have your address on a resume. If as someone mentioned that the potential employer may think that you may have a long commute is exactly why you wouldn’t put it there. They have prejudged the situation. You may be willing and able to move to a new location near the job. But they have already decided that you live too far away. And for the HR person who has a job offer to make. Wouldn’t it be nice if the potential hiree knew that the offer was coming? Just when were you going to tell them? Only through the letter! If you call them and they except, ask them to send you the address. There still is e-mail right? There is so much poppycock information given over what should and should not be in a resume. Most times I take things with a grain of salt. But this one is crazy.
John G. Self says
Let me guess. You do not work in executive recruiting. If I have 20 + qualified resumes for a senior level position and most of the applicants are pretty much equal on experience, which is not uncommon in C-suite engagements, I am going to start eliminating candidates based on the look, accuracy and content of the resume.
Why? That is the first interview. If you do not want to tell me where you live, what am I to think? You may think it is nonsense but if you want people to take you seriously as a candidate, provide complete information for the interview.
Darya Jarmola says
Drew,
A recruiter’s job is much more time-sensitive at times as people may realize. I may have a 10 minute window between a decision to hire made and the time when the CEO is gone for the day. I may not be able to reach the candidate on time to get the address and have the offer signed. While I am sitting on this offer waiting for an address, a competitive agency can (and has) make an offer (signed)and I lose the candidate. Though obviously this this not the case every time, it is very annoying when this happens. Given a verbal offer is not equivalent to having a signed paper in front of you. Some industries are very fast paced, and having a resume with an address on it helps. Hope this clears things up a bit.
Drew says
Darya. Thanks. I do understand. And this includes a response to John. Never assume. I am also a recruiter. You never know to whom you are talking/messaging. Seems that everyone has skipped to the end. What happened during the interview? At that point, you could have very easily asked “do we have all of your contact information,” should we make you an offer. To make any kind of judgement on an applicant based on their address is irresponsible and lazy. There just isn’t any viable reason for it. It allows you to make judgements concerning an applicant that just aren’t fair. As John says ” if all things are considered equal” then he would look at a candidates address is nuts. Is that really how you select candidates. If distance and proximity to a job are important, then put it in the job description. Don’t cheat the applicant.
Darya Jarmola says
Thanks Drew. I did not assume anything about your occupation at all, I was just sharing the fact that my position is very fast paced with the recruitment that I do (not to say or assume anything about your position). As a result of that, I have run into the issue I outlined. I do agree with you in that we can be asking during the interview to make sure we have all the information, but due to the structure of my organization, there are times when a hiring manager interviews, and I do not see the candidate or the resume until I have to prepare the offer. Some frustration (on my part) can be eliminated by having all of the candidate’s information on the resume without me having to look for it or remember to ask for it.
John G. Self says
What I have learned over the past 18 years in executive search is that people have pronounced opinions when it comes to resumes — and I base that on the inordinate number of bad resumes — even at the VP level — that we receive.
The resume is your first interview. Where you live and your contact information is important. It is right up there with your current employment. It is not lazy or irresponsible to expect that on a resume.
Drew, based on your comments I was betting you were certainly NOT a retained search consultant. You may not think it is fair that recruiters want complete contact information on the resume — or you may want to just stand with your “lazy or irresponsible” assessment. That is fine with me but I can assure you that our process is one of the most robust and detailed of any retained search firm in our sector, according to our candidates and clients, and my staff is anything but lazy and irresponsible. In fact, they are among the best I have worked with. You need a team of insightful people — along with accomplished candidates — when you are going to guarantee an executive placement for 3 years.
Drew, I do not know where you are in terms of your career — early stage, mid-point or at the senior level of a company. If you are at the early stage, I would suggest that you consult with a career coach to ask for advice before you a submit a resume without complete contact information for a job that you really want to win.
But in the end, the resume is also a statement/representation of your career brand. Your brand, not mine or any one else. So you get to design it, compose it and produce it in a way that matches with your point of view and values.
The great thing about discussion boards is that it allows for people to express their opinions in a robust manner. Thanks Sharlyn for starting this lively conversation.
Drew says
Thanks John. Okay. We are all accomplished professionals at what we do. So, let’s stick to the conversation and not focus on one another. Yes, a resume presents and reflects “you.” However, if it were only that simple. Studies have been performed that reflect the conscious and unconscious bias that HR personnel use when looking at an applicants names to determine (guess) their race or ethnicity and then decide to not interview/hire the individual. The same thing can be done in most cities when it comes to an individuals address. When reading a resume, the only thing that should matter is what’s in the resume. If you have contact information for the individaul, initially, that’s all that you need. Anything else is to help you decide and sometimes, the reasoning going into deciding isn’t fair. If there is a valid reason, fine, put it in the job description. If not, let it go and not focus on it.
John G. Self says
I appreciate your comments. But you seem to be talking about lower level candidate/applicants being processed by HR, not executives who are being recruited by retained recruiters, or senior in-house search consultants. That was the point I was trying to make, but obviously not too well.
I have been in healthcare for 30+ years, and in retained search for more than 18. I appreciate your concerns about bias, that could be applied (ridiculously) to cross-town candidates, but from my perspective, and with the type of engagements we handle, the locale is not an issue — unless they are a foreign applicant without a visa, which in 99.999% of the cases would be a non-starter. Race and ethnicity are not issues either.
Having the contact information at the outset is a time saver and it is expected of an executive candidate.
Drew says
Agreed. But the biases still apply. That’s the unconscious part. There are far too many times where there is bias and the individual doing it never realizes it. And also at the executive level you wouldn’t expect the resume to be one or two pages, which the industry says is the norm. So we know that the rules are going to be slightly different. Heck, at the executive level more times than not there is a picture profile involved also. That is somewhat expected, but not for lower level potential employees.
Sharlyn Lauby says
Thanks for continuing this conversation. I think this thread will be valuable to job applicants. It’s clear we are operating in a form of gray area – for some situations, it’s fine not to include your mailing address and in others, it’s a business faux pas. At some point, companies will have to decide who needs to provide the info, when they should provide it, why they need the information. “Just because” isn’t a valid answer.
JustMe says
I go with Drew, in today’s jobs and having the ability to telecommute, an address is not going to matter. My office is in the DC area and I work out of my home if FL. Generalizing is NOT good.
Tina says
Hello, I’m a little late. Today I am actually finishing my resume for a job. I was worried about the address. I don’t live in some lavish grand area, in fact I stay in a low class area. I was worried that the employers (government, law enforcement etc.) I am applying to would research my address and disqualify me from the position. I’m still confused but I hope that my address is overlooked and the body of my resume is considered.
Darya says
Tina,
For an employer to be basing any decisions on the fact that the area you live in is not the most prosperous would be so unethical I can’t even describe it. You would likely not want to work for an employer like that anyway. I have not heard of such practice and never met another HR practitioner or a recruiter that would do that. It simply does not matter where the person lives and it would seem like quite a waste of time to even research that for me when considering applicants.
Tina says
Well that’s a relief. I added it to my resume by the way. Thanks for your input.
Sharlyn Lauby says
Great discussion! Darya’s answer is spot on.
Arthur says
I wont call on people with no address as it seems evasive and they are living in fear of identity theft, which is absurd. The positions I hire for require the manager to live very close to the store so I need to know that before I even think of calling them! I throw hundreds of them away daily due to no address!
ALR says
Wow Arthur. Such a smug comment. I hope that you put in the job description that it is important for an applicant to live within such and such number of miles from the job. Or else, how would they know that that was a requirement. Secondly, one question for applicants to ask any potential employer is how well do they live the values and words of their mission statement? I am sure that fairness is probably mentioned somewhere in that satement. How fair do you see your approach? Thirdly, what about military veterans that may be returning to your area and are relocating? Are you not interested in them because you don’t have their local address? And fourthly, look at all of the information that someone provides in a resume. How is providing all of that information to you now all of a sudden being evasive, bcause they didn’t add their address? I am so happy that I have a job. I would really hate to have to look for a job with your company and potentially work with someone with an attitude like yours. Thank you for your time.
Arthur says
Like I said, I have to look at thousands of applicants daily and since the job requires that they live close to their store, it is very important that I know their address. I clearly state this on the job posting and also require a cover letter as to weed out the MANY applicants that apply to literally every job on the site! Not smug at all and as to your comment on hiring veterans, we give them first dibs on all jobs and spend thousands recruiting veterans. I have a great attitude and a very fun company but so many of these people I call and after I’ve introduced myself ask them their address, only to get the same answer about identity theft!
ALR says
Thanks Arthur. So much better explanation. But, this additional information would have helped in the first message.
Sharlyn Lauby says
Thanks for keeping the conversation going.
Let me toss out a different POV. Some people feel that listing an address can create a bias for the interviewer. The interviewer might recognize the address and immediately have an impression of the person’s lifestyle…which should not be a part of the hiring decision.
The job requires that employees show up on time and be able to work their shift. It doesn’t really require that a person live close to the work location. Although I assume no one wants to commute long distances for certain positions. There are cases where this just isn’t practical.
Marcus says
If you have your email and number on there, who needs to post letters in this day and age? The only decent reason for including the address is if the employer wants to assess your ease of commute to the workplace. It depends on the job and city and is not relevant to most jobs. In any case it is minor compared to your skills and qualifications and should not be used by HR people to weed out candidates to ease their workload. They can ask at the interview if they are looking for small reasons to pick one over the other.
Leslie says
Interesting viewpoints so appreciate everyone sharing. As a resume writer myself, I was recently “instructed” by a friend/colleague of mine (who happens to be the “head honcho” for a large staffing firm) to leave addresses OFF, but all things considered, I was taught to “go with my gut/initial instinct”, which in this case, upon hearing her directive, just didn’t feel quite right to me. That being said, I think (for now anyway) I will stick to putting it on my client’s resumes, unless they specifically request otherwise. But great to gather further opinions from everyone. Thanks again!
John G. Self says
Look, there is a difference between staffing, management and executive recruiting. I cannot speak to the former, but if an executive sends me a resume with no address, they are, more than likely, not going to be taken seriously.
Leslie says
Thank you John….that’s all I needed to hear! 🙂
Gina says
In the past year, I have had three recruiters refuse to consider me for specific positions simply due to commuting distance. I was disappointed by all of these repsonses because all three positions were great fits for my skills and career goals and in the DC area who commutes less than an hour anyway? The recruiter that really burned her bridges with me was the one who admitted that she herself commutes two hours each way, every day, but wouldn’t submit me for a position 45 minutes away because “the employer might not want candidates from that far away”. Due to this, I am seriously taking my address off of my resume.
John G. Self says
Keep in mind, I work on C-suite and senior leadership engagements so my requirements differ for staffing or management recruiters. That said, here is my take: if the recruiter has been instructed by the client that location is part of the selection criteria — regardless of whether that is appropriate or not — then not providing the address on your resume is just delaying the inevitable. Why waste your time? Ask if location is a criteria. This issue is akin to pursing a job in which the recruiter is not providing salary information on the front end in order to qualify you. Why would you want to waste your time with incompetence?
Arthur says
Gina, that is too bad. The positions I hire for are ones that require 60-90 hours a week so a long commute more times than not becomes a real issue. Our youth of today also place almost zero importance on being punctual. Tardiness is rampant , and totally unacceptable. My biggest issue though are the ones worried about stalking or identity theft, which are absurd.