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 of been doing. I want to see if I can help put an end to it. It’s the absence of an address, city, state and no ZIP Code. Just a name and sometimes it’s only a first name and first initial of the person’s last name and a phone number.
Just start by providing your location and your phone number, particularly if it’s a mobile number, may not correlate to where you are. As a result, you need to include the city and state and ZIP Code. Even if you don’t want to provide an address that I understand some people have a security issue about giving up her address, but city state and ZIP Code should be essential for every resume.
Why?
Because recruiters search for candidates, we usually start by looking for people in the geographic area around the client. Without providing ZIP Code, we have no way of finding you.
Well, I gave you my city!
ZIP Code is more specific and more effective for searching. After all, where was your area code would serve as a good substitute, now with portable phone numbers, you could be like me–someone with a 516 area code who lives nowhere near that location. How would someone know?
So please make sure to include city state and ZIP Code on all of your resumes.
As for not including your last name, I understand that you have a concern about bias by people who will reject you based upon having a last name that they might judged to be unpronounceable. I will simply say that whenever I receive a resume of someone who only includes an initial, I personally am annoyed because I don’t have an easy way to identify this person. After all, some of them don’t even include a phone number or email address to reach them.
And, if you are concerned about bias, for bigoted people you are signaling to them that they should reject you. If they are going to reject you based upon your name not your qualifications, they will do it whether you offer your name or not.
Frankly, only including the initial of last name is assumed to indicate that you are working in the United States on an H1B visa. It is in your name or national origin that is causing you to be rejected. It is your residency status, unfortunately.
Let me also add that applicant tracking systems are also unhappy with seeing simply a last initial. Often they spit out such applications and reject them.
Help recruiters help you. Make it easy. Always include city state and ZIP Code in your resumes and your full name on it, too.
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Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.
The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.
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