Almost every resume template has a home address space, but do you really need to include it? If you’re a data protection officer, you can rub yourself against it, and not just because potential employers are very unlikely to contact you in the mail: putting your address on something as public as a résumé can lead to a certain socio-economic impact Bias introduce into the recruitment / hiring process which may affect your chances of getting a new job.
Because of these concerns, the current prevailing wisdom on this matter is to omit your mailing address whenever you can Careers page after the career The website has expert knowledge that insists your address is redundant. However, it turns out there are reasons, including your address, that are important and they come up more often than you might think.
Why should you leave out your address?
However, let’s first look at the typical reasons for not providing your address. As mentioned earlier, there is always a risk that your address will result in some discrimination against a recruiter, whether it’s a socio-economic bias or a simple concern that your commute to the office will be too long. (This is worthless Lifehacker has specifically addressed this issue in the past.)
Another problem that many job seekers are probably not aware of comes from the companies that use applicant tracking systems to scan and store resume information. How Caitlin Proctor writes for ZipJob, Some companies program their ATS to filter out addresses, as collecting these addresses can technically lead to Violation of personal identification laws.
If asked to submit a resume through one of these automated systems, Proctor recommends that you only “include your city, state, and zip code on your resume when you submit it online”.
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However, there are reasons why you should include it
Aside from these concerns, there are a variety of reasons, including your address, that can serve you well during the interview process. As Dan Schawbel, managing partner of the personnel consultancy Workplace IntelligenceAccording to Lifehacker, including mailing addresses is still helpful for businesses, especially in this new era of remote working.
“Where someone lives is important in determining remuneration, taxes and eligibility,” he explains. So whether or not you provide your address may affect whether or not you go through pre-interview screening.
In addition, you will have to change your address anyway if the company does a background check – a practice that is now “almost universal” across the company spectrum. According to a 2019 study by HR.com and the National Association of Professional Background Screeners.
It is also true that at some point your prospective employer left your address on file so they can send you your tax documents and a host of other necessities related to your employment. Schawbel says of your mailing address: “Your employer needs it for his records and the files he keeps on you when he hires you.”
As the pandemic recedes and offices slowly come back to life, employers across the economy will likely be more willing to meet their workers’ demands for a hybrid schedule. Here, too, Schawbel emphasizes how this requires complete transparency of employee addresses.
For example, I want to make sure the people who work for me are in the same time zone so that we are in sync. Many employers will offer hybrid work arrangements after Covid and this will affect who they hire as these candidates would have to come to the office at least a few days a week.
If your sense of caution overrides these practicalities, you could shoot yourself in the foot if you applied for a new job without revealing your address.
