Why You Put Contact Info on Your Resume

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

In this video, Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, explains the importance of putting contact information on your resume.

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There’s been an annoying trend in resume writing that people have been using.

I want to see if I can help put an end to it. It’s the absence of an address, city, state, zip code, just a name. And sometimes it’s only a first name and first initial of a last name and a phone number.

Let me just start by saying your location and your phone number, particularly if it’s a mobile number, may not correlate to where you are. So you need to include the city and state and zip code, even if you don’t want to provide an address. Now, I understand some people have a security issue about giving out their address.

I got it. But city, state and zip code should be essential for you. Let me explain why.

Number one is it’ll help correlate with the phone number. Okay, not everyone wants that correlation. I don’t know why, but from the standpoint of us doing recruiting and employers doing hiring that are parsing data into applicant tracking systems, it allows us to go back and search for you because the primary search criteria is not your area code.

It’s your zip code. It’s helpful for us to know where you are. The other thing is if you don’t put your last name on, frankly, well, I understand that you’re concerned that someone may mispronounce your name.

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It’s an expression and runs the risk of, oh, this person has a bias against people from my nationality. They won’t call. I want to let you in on a secret.

Putting your first initial of your last name triggers lots of other biases. And we all know that you’re from a nation of origin with long last names that are unpronounceable. Unpronounceable.

So, you know, when all is said and done, no matter how you do it, you trigger the bias. So, it just helps us if we have your full name. It helps you if, minimally, your city, state and zip code is there, as well as the phone number for contact.

Not including this is going to hurt you, not just simply in this search, but in many searches to come because, you know, recruiters are out there trying to find people to fill jobs. Not just simply when you’re looking, but in the future when you might be happy where you are and you get a knock on the door with an opportunity that’s even better than the one that you have. So, don’t handicap yourself from being alerted to opportunities because you haven’t provided that city, state, zip code information.

Now, if you move, it doesn’t matter. You’ll get the first contact from someone who’s reaching out to you about a position in the wrong area. In the future, you just let them know where you are and what city, state and zip code you’re in now and they’ll update it in their system and be able to contact you about appropriate things.

But when all is said and done, contact information on your resume and a full name is critical for your success. I hope you enjoyed today’s show. And if you did, subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher or whatever service you listen to the show on.

And then from there, give it a great review, five stars, a great comment in iTunes or Stitcher. It does help other people discover the show, helps us with rankings, things along those lines. So, No BS Job Search Advice Radio will be back tomorrow with more advice to help you.

I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. Visit me at JobSearchCoachingHQ.com. Come join me there. I look forward to helping you.

Have a great day. Take care.

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