Identification & Contact Information

This is the 3rd in our 8 part series. Follow us on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/2926339?trk=company_search for other recommendations that get your resume seen by the hiring manager.

Contact Information

It is important to include your contact information on your resume. We recommend that you provide this information at the top center so that it is the first information seen by the interviewer. The following should be included in your contact information:

• Full Name – Include your full name first. Use a bold font, preferably larger than any other font on your resume. I usually use an 18 point Times New Roman font. Choose any font that you like. But, be sure it is the largest font on the resume and don’t be too fancy. When selecting fonts, “keep it conservative” is the rule for most resumes.

• Address – Include you mailing address just beneath your name. Your address should be a smaller font than your name. Do not bold your address. If you do not want to include your address, then city and state are most important so include them. The hiring manager wants to assess your proximity to the job opening. Qualified local candidates always move to the front of the line. So be sure to include your city and state in your contact information.

• Phone number – Include a phone number where you can be reached or access voice messages during normal working hours. For most people this would be the cell phone number. Including a second phone number such as the home or work number is also acceptable. These days the reviewer will often text a candidate as a means of initial contact. So if possible, list a phone number where you can receive texts. It is not necessary to include the words “Phone” or “Telephone” or “Number.” “Cell,” “Text,” “Work” and “Home” are adequate identifiers for phone number. If you only provide one phone number in your contact information, then no identifier is adequate because the format of a phone number is easily recognizable.

• e-mail address – Be sure to include your e-mail address at the top of your resume. It is not necessary to include the words e-mail or address since the format of an e-mail address is universally recognized. Often reviewers will use e-mail as the initial means of contact. So, it is very important to have a valid e-mail address listed near the top of your resume. Be sure your e-mail address is professional and not something you would see on a dating site! Believe me, I have seen all kinds and some that embarrassed even me.

• URL’s – It is not necessary to list contact information for personal websites, facebook page, linkedin profile, twitter or other social networking information. You may list this if you want but quite frankly I find this information to be distracting and often unprofessional. My recommendation is that you leave this information off of your resume.

As a rule, we are seeing resumes that do not follow this format. They often leave off a phone number, address or both. I do not know who may have spread around the word not to include complete contact information on a resume. But, if somebody has given you this advice, it is bogus. To improve your chances of moving your resume through the job hunt process, be sure to include at a minimum your full name, city, state and zip code, cell phone number and e-mail address. In fact some recruiters focus on zip code to identify candidates for a particular position. And if you do not have your zip code on your resume it will not be identified as a match for the position.

This is the 3rd in our 8 part series. Follow us on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/2926339?trk=company_search for other recommendations that get your resume seen by the hiring manager.

Previous articles in this series include:

Resumes That Get Noticed – Part 1 of 8: Introduction
Resumes That Get Noticed – Part 2 of 8: Resume Styles
Resumes That Get Noticed – Part 3 of 8: Identification & Contact Information

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Sources & Related Articles:

1. “Tips and Advice on How to Write a Resume” (multiple articles)
By Alison Doyle, About.com Guide
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/resumewriting/qt/writeresume.htm

2. “Customized Resume Objective Gets Better Results”
From Laura Schneider
http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/gettingthejob/qt/resobj.htm

3. “Should You Use a Chronological or Functional …?”
By Roberta Chinsky Matuson, Monster Contributing Writer
http://career-advice.monster.com/resumes-cover-letters/resume-writing-tips/chronological-resume-or-functional-resume/article.aspx

4. “How to Target a Resume for a Specific Job”
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-target-a-resume-for-a-specific-job0.html

5. “10 Steps: How to Write a …”
by Susan Ireland
http://susanireland.com/resume/how-to-write/

6. Put Your Education to Work on Your …”
By Kim Isaacs, Monster Resume Expert
http://career-advice.monster.com/resumes-cover-letters/resume-writing-tips/put-your-education-to-work/article.aspx