Should I Include My Full Address On My Resume?

Information may not be reliable

Have you been applying to job after job with no call backs? No interviews scheduled? It happens to a large percentage of people looking for new employment. While common consolations such as “I was over-qualified” or “They must have made a decision before I applied” might make you feel better for one to two potential job losses, it certainly doesn’t help for long. Have you ever considered that there might be something preventing you from reaching that dream job? Something identifiable and most of all able to be remedied? In most cases, it’s a straightforward solution. Your resume is the culprit. 

Think about it, most companies receive hundreds of applications and resumes for various job openings. If they have multiple jobs open, that number multiplies. With that much interest being generated around job opportunities, it’s not hard to understand that finding time to review each resume independently and closely is nearly impossible. In fact, in most cases a resume only receives 6 seconds of consideration before the hiring manager or recruiter determines whether it is a good fit or not. Having a professional resume service write your resume can be the difference maker in your job search.

A resume that lands interviews and wins jobs is a resume that is written based on the job or industry you are applying for. Having a professional write your resume is the most straight forward way to making sure that your skills and achievements are presented in the best possible way.

Less is more, especially when it comes to an important document like your resume. Having too much detail in your resume becomes cumbersome and unreadable. The key to a successful resume is understanding which information is the most important and relevant, and which information is less impactful. One common question we receive is, “Should I include my full address on my resume?”

Should I Include My Full Address on My Resume?

Is this something you’ve been wondering for your situation? The answer is straightforward, but does depend on one major condition - the distance from your home to the job. If your home is near the workplace, feel free to include your full address in your resume. However, if you live far  from the job location, you’ll want to leave it out. A good rule of thumb is that if the workplace is more than one hour away from your address, leave it out. 

The reason for this is that recruiters and hiring managers understand that long commutes create additional stress and often times a decline in ambitiousness about a job over time unless compensated for the additional commute. Individuals with a long commute often eventually quit. This puts the company, the hiring manager, and the recruiter back at square one with finding a replacement, so stick to that rule to be safe!

In summary, be careful when listing your address on your resume. Remember the rule listed above and consider how it impacts your new potential career opportunity. This simple change could determine whether your resume lands in the ‘potential’ or ‘not a good fit’ pile.

What Do I Do If I Live Too Far From the Job?

If after considering the rule above, you determine that you live too far from the job to list your address on your resume - how do you list it? What do you do? You don’t want your resume ending up in the ‘not a good fit’ pile. Instead, simply do not list your complete address on your resume. Instead, list only the city location of your previous employer in the area. Alternatively, if you are open to a move, simply indicate that you are ‘ready to relocate’ on your resume. 

The key is to equip the hiring manager and recruiter with the most important information needed in order to evaluate you. Using these methods will let the employer know that even though you aren’t local, you are willing to transition your life for the job opportunity It also speaks to the level of interest you have in the position if you are willing to uproot in order to move closer.

In the end, the decision to list your full address or not on your resume comes down to one major differentiation. Yet that simple choice can have a huge impact on your perceived eligibility for a potential new job role. Choose wisely!

Looking for more information? Have one of our certified resume writers craft your own professional resume with our resume writing service in Houston, TX.

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