People must be able to locate
you, but your address and phone number are some of the least important
marketing details on a résumé. Some managers spend only a few seconds perusing
a résumé and might get through the first third of it, if you are lucky. The
reader's eyes should be drawn immediately to the things that will motivate him
or her to read all the way to the bottom.
However, you don't want to make
the reader work too hard when it comes time to make that critical call for an
interview! You should make the address section part of the overall design of
the résumé so it doesn't detract from the text, much as you did with your name,
but keep it in an easy-to-find location. That can be done by placing the
address(es) either at the top or the bottom of the résumé.
Two addresses, a current and
permanent, are often needed when a person is still in school or will be moving
in a few months. Presenting them at the top sometimes creates design problems
and requires a bit of imagination (Sample
1). Placing two addresses at the bottom is often easier.
An address at the top of the
résumé should be made part of the design so that the reader's eyes easily skip
over it to begin reading the text. Graphic lines are particularly useful in
this case (Sample 1),
and so is the judicious use of italics (Sample
1).
Matching lines at the bottom of a
résumé sometimes help to create a sense of balance so the résumé is not top
heavy (Sample 1). The
address can be centered under or between the line(s) (Sample
1), made to follow the same format as the text of the résumé (Sample
1), or tab aligned (Sample
1).
If you have an e-mail address,
always include it on your résumé. The same goes for your Web page address if
you have a portfolio online.