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What Are The Issues With Writing Your Resume Contact Information?

The issues with your resume contact information are simple.

• You will want to enable a potential employer to contact you.

However, on the other end of the spectrum,

• You do not want to become a victim of identity theft and
• You may not wish to let your current employer know you are job seeking.

The issues you must consider are:

• The amount of contact information to disclose
• When to disclose it
• How to disclose it and
• To whom you disclose it.

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Can You Write Sufficient Resume Contact Information and Protect Your Disclosure Concerns?

I believe the answer is a very comfortable "YES!"

However, in order to meet these seemingly complex needs, you must

• Divide the process into stages or
• Think in terms of progressive disclosure.

At the beginning of the process, you want to make known publicly that there is someone with your qualifications, knowledge and experience who is on the market. However, at this stage, it is not necessary to disclose

• Your identity or
• The name of your current employer.

You must think in terms of controlling

• Who knows what and
• When they know it.

You have some tools to help you accomplish your goal.

You will be able to control your publicly disclosed information by using a broadcast version of your resume. It should include what you've done, but can be written so it does not disclose any previous employers' names or any personally identifiable contact information.

Instead, include an anonymous email address, such as, "greatemployee@gmaiil.com," or "proengineer@yahoo.com." Make sure any email address you choose is appropriate for business use.

When you use this strategy, you make known your

• Experience
• Skills
• Knowledge
• Abilities and
• A means to contact you

but your identity is kept private.

Once you get a response of interest to you, send a printed resume that includes all employers’ names and all your contact information. And, yes, this means you may need to make different versions of your resume for different audiences/occasions.

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Save Your Personally Identifiable Resume Contact Information
For Your Printed Resume

A printed resume mailed directly to the hiring manager of companies for whom you wish to work is the safest of places for full disclosure of your personally identifiable resume contact information. The recipient is the person you want to empower to reach you at his convenience.

Therefore, the printed resume that you mail has the highest degree of disclosure. You control the destination completely. No one receives a copy without your authorization.

The printed copy is your prime document. It should have the highest disclosure of any documents you distribute.

You will want to supply multiple means for the recipient of this document to reach you. You will want her to include the following resume contact information:

• Full or legal name
• Street address
• City
• State
• Postal code
• Cell phone number
• Home phone number
• Email address
• Fax number (if you have one)
• A pager number (if you have one) and
• Your web site, if it is appropriate.

You will want all of this information displayed in a header where your potential boss can find it quickly. You also want it legible, but unobtrusive. Most of all, you want it accurate.

If you do not care enough to proof your contact information, my best advice to you is to get a job digging ditches. Precision really doesn't matter much there. A resume with faulty contact information can only hurt you. Avoid it at all costs.

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Inappropriate Disclosure of Personally Identifiable Resume Contact Information
Can Lead To Identity Theft

Giving out your personally identifiable resume contact information always raises the risk of identity theft. Yes, there are identity theft problems you may encounter if some hacker gets hold of your resume.

However, you can include some common sense protections.

Most of those problems occur when a complete resume is posted publicly that includes information that should NEVER be included in a resume. Such personal private information that you should NEVER give until an interview has been held includes your

• Social security number
• Bank information
  • Routing number or
  • Checking account number (used by your employer for direct deposit of your paycheck)
• Credit Card number, etc.,

until AFTER A HIRING AGREEMENT HAS BEEN SIGNED.

You may also wish to limit the contact data elements you include on your published resume, disclosing them only after an initial contact with a potential employer.

You may also wish to use a "Name Withheld," approach described above on resumes you post on major international web sites. The best way to do this is to use only an anonymous email address described above.

You can also get protection from companies that protect against identity theft.

If you do not wish to pay for such protection, you can keep a watchful eye on your credit reports and take prudent steps immediately upon discovery of unauthorized use of your personal information.

There are sources available on the web to help you with identity theft protection. That is NOT the primary focus of this page, however.

Another reason to go covert is that you may not want your current employer to know you are looking for another position. Such knowledge has cost many a job seeker a current job.

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Information You Should NEVER Include In Your Resume Contact Information

There are obviously bits of personal information you will not wish to include. Your resume should not address

• Height
• Weight
• Health
• Age
• Race
• Gender
• Marital status
• Family size
• Religious preferences or
• Any other material that does not pertain to the position for which you are applying.

Caveat: There are some positions that have particular requirements for height and weight, or other items. For instance, if you were an ordained minister, seeking a ministerial position, it would probably be a very good idea to include appropriate religious background information, because it pertains to the job you seek.

If, however, it does not pertain to your sought after job, do not include it. It is simply extraneous information that will force the person reading your resume to ferret through, and may even offend someone with a different position, ending your chances of getting hired.

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How To Layout Your Resume Contact Information

The six items that follow are some examples of how you can layout your resume contact information. These are only a few suggestions to get you thinking. There are obviously many more ways to do it, and I hope you begin to use these simple ideas to prime your imagination.

These exmples are simply to give you some very basic ideas about how you can create an attractive header. You can also place headers rotated 90 degrees in a left hand column. If you have a creative bent, use it... Just think about how the employer would look at it. In very conservative industries, a more conservative approach would be more likely to get you an interview. More creative indutries would likely respond positively to more creative approaches.

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