There was a time when people were asked to add their address on their resume. This was mainly the case because people were actively applying to jobs by mail. For hiring managers to reply back to candidates, they needed to have their address listed on their resume to receive a response. These days, most people have email addresses or social media links allowing them to be contacted. However, having some information that shares your location might be advantageous in helping you get a job if you live nearby. In this post, we’ll answer the question “Should you add your address to your resume” and include pros and cons for both to help you make an informed and safe decision about what you should and shouldn’t disclose.
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Pros of adding your address on your resume
1. Employers want to know you live close
With more employers having return-to-office mandates, most employers want to know you live close by. When you work remotely, it doesn’t really matter where you work with the exception of for tax purposes, at least from a business perspective. However, adding your address on your resume allows employers to know you live close by. If you’re applying for jobs that have offices in San Diego, but live in San Francisco, employers might not choose you. However, if you live in San Diego and are applying for jobs in San Diego, you might have an easier time finding a job and being hired at a company because you’re local. It’ll be easier for you to get to work, you’ll be able to potentially join for team dinners or holiday parties. Living close to work allows you to better connect with coworkers in-person which will allow you to thrive at the company from an office politics perspective.
2. You might be able to get a relocation deal
If a candidate lives in a different city or country and wants to relocate somewhere new, disclosing their current locations might help them add a relocation deal to their offer package. If you’ve always dreamed of living and working in New York but you currently live in Ohio, you might be able to score a relocation deal allowing you to move to the Big Apple and live out your dream. If a company offers relocation and you’re eligible to work in the country, you could be able to relocate to a new city based on the address you have on file should they require candidates work in-office instead of remotely.
3. It can help filter out where you should work
Having your address on a resume can help filter out where you work. While getting rejected for an interview sucks, getting rejected because you live too far isn’t always a bad deal. If you’re looking for a remote job but a job is listed as in-office and your city is nowhere near the office, you’ll likely get rejected but you probably wouldn’t have wanted to commute there anyways. If you don’t want to be filtered out based on your location, obviously avoid putting your address on your resume. However, if you want to work at places that are closer to home, having your address on a resume can help you only get responses from people who are looking for local candidates.
4. It makes background checks easier
When you include your address on a resume it’s easier for an employer to complete a background check on you. Background checks are mostly harmless if you haven’t done anything wrong. For most people, when a background check is done they’re just checking if you’ve worked where you said you worked. Having your address on a resume allows them to easily look you up to better find you in their systems. Provided that you’re not a criminal or hiding anything, this isn’t a good or a bad thing. It makes their job easier, which can help you get an offer faster.
5. It can help employers know how to best compensate you
Having your address on a resume can help employers know how they should compensate you. If you live in San Francisco or New York the salaries are often higher than if you live in Lisbon or Athens. A company often chooses to pay people the salaries based on industry standards in their region. When the cost of living is high in your city, being compensated to reflect that is often necessary. Having your address on a resume can ensure you’re compensated to your local industry standards so you can live on your salary.
6. You might attract more local opportunities
Some people share their city and state on a resume that’s shared publicly. When you do this, you might start attracting more local opportunities. Hiring managers who sift through resumes online to find great candidates will see your public resume and reach out to you regarding local opportunities in your area. If you want to attract more recruiters or hiring managers (even when you aren’t actively looking for opportunities), having your city and state featured on a public resume or on your LinkedIn profile can allow you to get more job opportunities in your inbox. Hiring managers often seek candidates based on their location, particularly for in-office positions so having it listed can help you potentially land more opportunities.
Cons of adding your address on your resume
1. It could lead to security breaches
The main reason why people no longer have their address on a resume anymore is for safety and security reasons. When you apply for jobs online, you never really know who’s on the other side of the screen receiving that application. With the rise in cyber crimes and job scams, you could potentially put yourself at risk by having your full address on a resume. These days, most people for security reasons only put their city and state/province. Because of the high number of fake job postings that can be found on popular job search sites, you’ll want to protect yourself from identity theft or data leaks from oversharing information that doesn’t need to be disclosed in the first place. When disclosing information on your resume, having your name, phone number, email address, and city/state/province is about all the identifying information you need to share. And this is information needed so you can be contacted regarding an interview.
2. It could lead to discrimination
Disclosing your full address on a resume can lead to discrimination. If a hiring manager sees a potential candidate’s address on a resume and knows what that area is like, it might lead to them making snap judgments about you before they even meet you. And the judgment of where you live has nothing to do with your qualifications as a candidate. Potential employers shouldn’t be able to look up your home. Your resume should be free of any potential bias. Beyond an address on a resume, you also shouldn’t include a resume photo, political affiliations, or hobbies that could lead to bias.
3. It could lead to lower compensation
Listing your address on a resume could lead to a lower compensation. For example, if you apply for a remote job but are based in Mississippi, you might get paid a lower salary than someone doing the same job in New York City. While the cost of living may be lower in Mississippi, it can feel a bit unfair to work the same hours as a remote colleague doing the same work as you and to be compensated less than them. You don’t need to disclose your location before signing an offer. Upon receiving an offer, you could share your address for tax purposes. However, beyond this, especially when it comes to negotiating power, you probably don’t want to share where you live if it could lead to a lower salary compensation package.
4. It might lead to a rejection
One of the cons of having your address on your resume is that it can lead to an instant rejection. There may be a dream company you’ve always wanted to work at. You apply hoping that you can secure an interview. However, they only hire people who live in a specific region you don’t live in and you end up getting rejected before you could even impress them with your skill set. Sometimes, not disclosing your location allows you to get roles made for you or accommodations made for you, such as remote work because you’re the best candidate by a landslide. So, not putting your address on your resume could potentially allow you to have more opportunities. Sure, tax laws apply but sometimes companies just want to hire the best candidate.
5. No one needs to know where you live
Having your address on a resume is a privacy risk and concern, true. But also, why would an employer need to know where you live exactly? They only need to know the city and state/province. Beyond that your exact address isn’t needed. It’s not like they’re going to mail you a rejection, this isn’t the 90’s. Some employers don’t even email rejections, they ghost you. So, having an address on your resume isn’t necessary because it’s not the kind of information someone needs to have to decide whether or not you’re good enough to land an interview. In the event that you accidentally share your address on a resume to a scammer with a fake job posting, you won’t have to worry about a stranger showing up to your house. Spam texts and emails can both be blocked so it’s not a big deal. But address leaks can be scary.
6. It’s not a common practice anymore
In a world where ageism is still a thing, you don’t want to have any outdated resume practices to indicate how old you are to a hiring manager or recruiter. Most people don’t put their entire address on a resume, they either write the city and state or they write remote and their country. Beyond this, you don’t need to list your address on your resume anymore. Most people know that an address isn’t needed on resumes anymore. So, don’t add your address to your resume even if that’s something you used to do when applying for jobs.
7. It might be better to include other information instead
Because adding your address to your resume takes up so much space, consider adding other more enticing information instead. By reducing your address to only a city and state, you could choose to add a LinkedIn profile link or portfolio link. Having these additional resources can make someone much more interested in you as a candidate as it allows them to further explore what you’re all about.
Are you relocating?
If you’re relocating, add the city and state of the place you’re moving to. Tell the hiring manager in the interview that you’re relocating there soon and are starting the job search to find local jobs in the area before you arrive so you can get settled in.
How much of your address should you include on a resume?
The best approach for including your address on your resume is to only include the city and state or province.
Conclusion
Should you add your address to your resume? No. You can add your city and state to help give you a bit of a competitive edge for major employers or opportunities. However, for the most part including your full address on a resume is an outdated practice where other more important information would be better suited to take its place. If you’re thinking about building your resume right now you can try the AI resume builder by Huntr, sign up for Huntr today.