Candidates have been leaving off their addresses on their resume. Clearly, there is a downside to this.
Many believe that an email or phone number is all that is needed. And with remote opportunities available more than ever before, the address is not meaningful.
In theory, this may make sense. But recruiters are hard pressed to hire a candidate in California for a job in New York when qualified candidates, in New York, are much closer to the operation, even if the job is remote.
Candidates may have security concerns about this information though finding an address online for someone is as easy as an online search. And, of course, candidates don’t want to get rejected because of their location.
Here’s the truth: If you are too far from a non-remote job, you are going to get rejected regardless of when the company finds out about your location. I am just not sure these reasons are strong enough to prevent someone from knowing what city and state you live in.
Before you start sending resumes to jobs with no address on your resume, consider this. We posted a job for a Data Analyst this past week and received 20 resumes. 17 of the resumes had absolutely no address. Nothing. No city, state or zip.
How is a recruiter going to decide if a candidate is viable if he/she could be living anywhere in the world (including overseas) and the job is for a local candidate and there’s zero budget for relocation.
Two or three of the resumes were pretty good and deserved a call back but I did not reach out. Why? Because I need a local candidate.
To find out if they are commutable, I would have had to send the candidates an email or call them to ask their location or find out if they were interested in relocating to NY on their own dime.
This creates an extra step for the recruiter. And with sometimes hundreds of resumes to //review, well you get the picture.
Here’s the other reason – even the most modern Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) require an address.
So, if your resume makes it to a corporate recruiter and they want to upload it into their ATS, they must reach out to get your address or ask you to apply online.
Either way, not including an address on your resume makes it harder for both agency and corporate recruiters to consider you for a non-remote job.
Proposed Compromise
If you have any concerns about listing your street address, why not include your city and state?
And if you are applying for a position that is a great fit in another state, why not do something like what you see below. Say the job is in Tampa. Indicate you are willing to relocate. This proactively resolves the issue.
In the case of my 20 data analyst resumes, I needed to know if they’d work in New York City. A header like the one below solves the problem.
Aaron Chambers
(222) 555-3276
akingston@gmail.com
Willing to Relocate to Tampa, FL
Here’s to hoping this compromise gets you further in the hiring process and helps ensure the recruiter doesn’t automatically put you in the “no” category of a missing address.