| 1. Personal Safety | | | | And if the company has not made its final hiring |
| If you post your resume online, you're opening yourself | | | | decision, you just might make an impression over the |
| to security risk. Most of us wouldn't include our home | | | | phone that makes them reconsider your qualifications. |
| address on Facebook posts, personal Web pages, or | | | | 3. Economic Profiling |
| tweets but we never think twice about putting it on our | | | | Here's where your street address can take a real |
| online resumes for the entire world to see. | | | | chunk out of your wallet. The Internet age gives job |
| We want employers to contact us, right? Sure, but | | | | seekers a wealth of resources for conducting job |
| what about unsavory sorts like identity thieves? They | | | | searches, but it provides just as many powerful tools |
| could use your street address to gain access to your | | | | for employers. And those tools can directly affect |
| personal financial information. And let's not even | | | | salary offers. |
| discuss all of the other sordid people out their cruising | | | | Include your street address and employers can use |
| the information highway. The odds of falling victim to | | | | online search engines (think zillo.com) to determine the |
| scams or other acts of foul play are slim but, as I | | | | value of your property, the median income in your |
| explain below, why not eliminate risk completely while | | | | neighborhood or how much you paid for your home |
| gaining a competitive advantage at the same time. | | | | and develop a salary offer based on your current |
| 2. Rejection Letters | | | | economic situation. If you live in a lower income area, |
| Eliminating your street address can actually pay | | | | companies can reliably assume that you will accept a |
| dividends. Without a street address, companies cannot | | | | lower salary offer. If you live in a super posh |
| send you a form rejection letter after interviewing you. | | | | neighborhood, they might overlook you thinking they |
| Instead, reputable employers will be bound by | | | | can't afford your salary requirements. |
| professional courtesy to give you a rejection phone | | | | ** Update 07/31/09 ** |
| call. What's the advantage, you might ask? With a | | | | Several of my colleagues just conducted an |
| phone call you have dialogue and one more | | | | impromptu survey of HR professionals and found that |
| opportunity to sell your value. | | | | most agree your physical address is not essential |
| Suppose the company has already selected another | | | | information to provide on your resume. Several |
| candidate, you now have an opportunity to ask about | | | | respondents posed a very interesting reason for not |
| other openings in the company and to describe how | | | | including your physical address, one that I had not |
| you could be an asset to the company in another role. | | | | considered when writing this article: some employers |
| If the caller is familiar with you (perhaps he or she | | | | will look at your street address to determine how long |
| interviewed you), you could say, "I know I have a lot of | | | | your work commute would be. Some actually weed |
| value to offer the right company and I'd like to perform | | | | out good candidates simply because they feel the |
| better on future interviews. Would you mind telling me | | | | commute might be too long. |
| what you thought my biggest strengths and | | | | The bottom line is that you control your contact |
| weaknesses were from our interview?" Most likely, the | | | | information, and you need to use that asset to your |
| person on the other end of the line will be more than | | | | advantage. All they really need is your phone number, |
| happy to help you (it eases the guilt of having to | | | | city, and state, and email address. I never include street |
| deliver bad news). | | | | addresses. |