Spotlight for Career Services Professionals

Including an address on a resume may impact a job seeker’s potential to be considered for a position.

A recent conversation in the NACE Community has career services professionals debating whether a resume should include the job seeker’s address. Here’s what practitioners on both sides of the issue had to say:

Include an address:

• One of the searchable fields in an applicant tracking system (ATS) is the address.
• If an employer is in a hurry to hire, a local address may get the hiring manager’s attention.
• Some employers say candidates that live close to a job location are more likely to accept an offer.

Don’t include an address:

• An employer doesn’t need an address to contact a job seeker or to schedule an interview.
• An address more than 25 miles from the organization may signal that a job seeker is less likely to accept a job offer.
• An address may reveal a job seeker’s unrelated socio-economic status to a hiring manager.
• The resume may pass through many hands at the hiring organization and only human resources and payroll need a physical address.

Address advice from Community members:

• Don’t include an address on a resume posted to a job board or third-party website. Some sell subscriber’s information.
• Use a college address without a room number.
• Add the home address only if it’s close to the location of the position.
• List only city, state, and zip code: the resume should be used to highlight how the candidate fits the job.
• Include the metro area where the job seeker would like to find a position.

What do you think? Should students include their address on their resumes? Join the conversation in the NACE Community.