What Should be in the Header of Every Resume?
There are very few hard and fast rules that apply to writing a resume, but one standard you should always follow is including your name and contact information in the header.
By including the information in the header, you will ensure it carries over to every page. The last thing you want is someone carrying a stack of printed resumes (yes, people still print), dropping them, and now your resume is missing a page.
What should you include?
The must-haves are your name, phone number, and email address. Don’t assume because you’re using a platform like Indeed or ZipRecruiter that your profile information will carry over to a recruiter’s database when they export your document. Avoid using these online platforms’ built-in resume templates for this same reason. It’s always best to create your own resume in a Word doc and then upload it. Remember your name, phone number, and email address or all non-negotiable.
Your email address
We all have email addresses that we’ve used since high school and some of them should not continue to live on through our professional lives. I understand not wanting to check multiple email accounts, but it is worth the hassle when it comes to your job search. Having an email address of pussycat15@gmail.com is not doing anyone any favors. Create a free Gmail account if you need to. A clean email like colecareersearch@gmail.com should do the trick. If you’re really stuck on not checking multiple email accounts, you can always forward the inbox to your pussycat email. Just be sure you respond from the professional one!
Location, location, location
When it comes to listing your address, you need to make a decision. Ask yourself this: “does including my location work to my advantage or not?”
If you are applying to jobs close to where you live, then it would be best to include your location. Here’s why. Once you apply to an opening, your resume may go into an applicant tracking system (ATS). Think of applicant tracking systems as a database with a search engine, sort of like a mini Google. When a recruiter goes into their ATS and searches for a group of candidates, most likely they will use location as one of their search criteria. If you want to come up in a recruiter’s search, you must have your location.
Where including your location becomes most useful is being picked up for jobs that you didn’t apply for. Imagine this scenario. You apply for a job, have your location listed on your resume, and get rejected - or ghosted. But two weeks later another opening becomes available with that company or with that recruiting firm, so the recruiter goes into their ATS and runs a search - you come up in the top 5 because you have matching criteria. You receive a phone call about a job that you never applied for and never knew about.
If you choose to list your location, do so in the form of city, state. It is no one’s business where you live, so the city and state should be sufficient. You could include a zipcode as well. I do not advise including your full address because of the rise of scams. Job board websites have traditionally done a terrible job at policing their sites for legitimate job postings and again, it’s no one’s business where you live. Not until they’ve decided they’re going to start sending you a paycheck to that address.
What if I’m relocating?
If you are attempting to relocate or commuting an hour away, it may be best to exclude your location from your resume. Here’s an example of why. Many people want to move to Los Angeles. It’s warm, there’s sun, and there’s Hollywood amongst many other great things (traffic excluded). Many employers struggle with hiring relocation candidates because they don’t stick around. Many candidates take the first decent job they can find to make the move and then continue their job search. There’s no debate that it’s easier to find a job once you’ve moved than prior to. Employers are aware of this and are hesitant to hire individuals relocating to the area. And who can blame them?
Therefore if you include your location on the resume you send for a relocation job, you set yourself up to be “auto-rejected” before you have a chance to explain why you are different. In this situation, excluding it can work to your benefit.
Your LinkedIn URL
Lastly, include your LinkedIn profile in the header with your contact information. Every recruiter or employer will look you up online these days. And your LinkedIn profile is most likely the first thing they will see in their Google search results. You might as well make it easy on them. They will remember it.
You can read about how to create or increase the visibility of your LinkedIn profile here.
