Address on resume — yes or no? It’s a smart question to ask. Here’s what I know:

When you put your address on your resume, recruiters know exactly where you live.

This matters because a person with a one-hour commute has to earn 40% more money to be as happy with life as someone who walks to the office.



Recruiters Calculate How Long Your Commute Is

You might not have thought about it, but in-house recruiters know that people with long commutes have more stress and often eventually quit “because of the commute.”

If you quit, they don’t look good, and they have to replace you. That’s more work, with no more money, for them.

So — address on resume? They do the math. If you live too far away, you don’t get an interview.

The Fix

Instead of giving your address on your resume, give your current or most recent employer’s city location, like this:

The Coca-Cola Company, Atlanta, GA (if you work at the mother ship)

or

The Coca-Cola Company, Oakland, CA (if you work at a branch office)

Sharing your employer’s location places you in a broad metropolitan area. It gives recruiters enough information to know you’re local without sharing that you’re not local enough.

Note: Per a helpful comment below, you can see how this looks on actual resumes here.

Another Benefit

People needed addresses on resumes when employers had to mail them forms, information, etc. Now they use email and Google docs.

Thus, there’s no need to let total strangers know which city you live in, your street, and your house or apartment number via your resume.

More

Beyond the push to get a job, think about the stats in this post’s opening paragraph when you decide where to live and where to apply for work. Working close to home can make you and your family happier and prevent you from looking like a job hopper on your resume.

Featured on LifeHacker, Fast Company, and Smart Brief

Image: Fotolia/rocketclips

Updated February 2019

© 2014 – 2019, Donna Svei. All rights reserved.