Can it be unwise to put your home address on your CV when job hunting?

[pippop1]

Wise Mumsnetters please can you give me some advice.

DS2 is updating his CV. He just beginning to look for a second job (graduated 18 months ago) and is currently in employment in a coastal city on a two year graduate training scheme.

For various reasons (mostly pay) is unlikely to want to stay with current employer when the scheme ends. They give him fab feedback but the prospects are not so great.

He would be happy to move back to London or stay in coastal city. He has read somewhere that it is not a good idea to put your home address (currently the coastal city) on your CV as the fact that you don't live in the city that the (new) job is in it will put off a potential employer.

My view is that young people are known to be mobile and an employer won't care two hoots if you live in the city where the job is located or not.

I also think that not to put any address on your CV, which is his plan, (just email/mobile and linkedin details) looks dodgy!

It's for office based jobs if that helps.

Who is right, me or DS2?

[MrsHathaway]

I always have, but actually I don't think it's necessary nowadays. In the mists of time the company would contact you by post or maybe phone, but I have had all that kind of correspondence by email for a decade or more, with the odd (mobile) phone call.

[pippop1]

Thank you Mrs Hathaway. Maybe I am old fashioned then?

Does anyone else have a view please?

[goodgollymisspolly]

Speaking as a recruitment consultant , I would advise your son to include his address and add a line with the locations he is happy to consider. Postal addresses are not generally used until the final stages of the process when contracts etc are sent out. Best of luck to him!

[Chococroc]

I recruit quite regularly in my role. I would expect to see an address on a CV/application form but would suggest adding a line to say 'looking to relocate to....' or similar to clarify.

[MsAspreyDiamonds]

My previous role included HE recruitment & most applicants did not include their address on the cv. The on line application form has a space for that so an email address will suffice. Most employers expect candidates to move across the country for jobs so not being resident in the area should not rule him out.

[HairStylistToBoris]

You are not supposed to take into account where someone lives when recruiting for a job, but many people do.
some people will think if you are far away that either the commute or relocation will be to much or you are not that serious about working there.

The reason you are not supposed to take it into account is that some employees used to refuse to recruit people from supposedly rough places or places known for having a high none white % population.

If you (or ds) are looking for say a London based job and have family or friends in or near London who don't mind you using their address then I'd do that. What's the harm?
I'm in HR by the way. Do loads of recruiting I between mumsnetting :)

[hellsbellsmelons]

I just have the town and county on mine along with mobile number and email address.
You don't need to list it though. As you say, contact is via other means now.

[Elysianfields]

I havent got it on mine, just the area, phone number and email/linkedin. But, every copy od my CV is sent with a covering letter which of course has my address on, so they do get my address.

He could put a line in his covering letter about being willing to locate but to be honest its not important. My latest load of applications I have sent off cover the midlands, NW, London and Malaysia, and I have never once said I will relocate, it is sufficient for them to know I will be where they want me when they want me.

[pippop1]

Wow! What a great response and so quickly too. Thank you all.

Covering letter with an address on but not on the CV seems like a good compromise.

I will suggest that I think.

[Wishtoremainunknown]

I was not selected for interview for this reason once. A friend who already lived locally got the job.

[kentishgirl]

'You are not supposed to take into account where someone lives when recruiting for a job, but many people do.'

Who says you are not supposed to? that's not in any law.

[LambCallaway05]

I work in HR too and we have an extremely high volume of applications, especially for entry level roles. My personal advice would be not to include a covering letter. It's obviously very much dependent on the types of role he is applying for, but we're extremely fortunate to receive large volumes of applications and our recruitment team don't have the time to read through a covering letter and CV for each applicant. The individuals address is only relevant if they are applying for field based roles. As pp's have said, as long as he includes a short line stating his desire to relocate that should be fine. Having his address easily to hand on his cv will make producing his contract and other documentation a lot smoother when he gets offered a role!

[nannynoss]

In a previous job, I was in charge of recruitment and I was told by the director of the company to whittle down applicants by location. So if they were more than 30 miles away say, I wouldn't have even read their CV.

[kentishgirl]

I would say it depends on the roles he is applying for.

We have some people relocate for our higher level roles; it's worth it to them.

No-one is going to relocate for our lower level roles; it wouldn't be worth it unless they had another big reason for wanting to move to our area.

For example, the last person I recruited was for a one hour a day early morning office cleaner. Of course we looked at the location of the applicants. No-one would continue to do that job for long if it meant much travel for them, and we had enough applicants from within a couple of miles.

[HairStylistToBoris]

Kentishgirl - there is some case law about companies refusing to recruit from areas with high population of certain racial/socio economic groups. Can be indirect race discrimination if you block out certain sections of the population.

[kentishgirl]

Yes I can see how indirect discrimination can occur, but there's a difference between saying 'no one from X estate or area' (discriminatory) and 'we want to recruit from within a 15 mile radius for X reason, no matter where exactly they live in that area'.

[Whenwillwe3meetagain]

I work in HR and am happy to not see the address. I ask for it from the rec con when we make an offer. I assume the candidate is able to travel to the office from wherever they live if they are coming to interview.
Should have mobile and email still though.

[cheminotte]

My CV doesn't have my address or. date of birth on and has not done for years. Just name, email and mobile number in the header / footer. Occasionally a recruiter will ask if I'll consider jobs in X region, and I can clarify. If you / he is applying for jobs in a certain location its fair enough to assume he is willing to relocate at his own cost.

[Viviennemary]

I think it would be a good idea to put his home address on his CV if that's the area in which he will be looking for work. I was shocked once to read that applicants from a rough area could be at a disadvantage when applying for jobs. I thought that was awful.

[HairStylistToBoris]

I have had at least one candidate apply from c/o local medium security HM prison. It didn't massively enhance his application with my recruiting managers.

[jay55]

I never do. Just email and phone number, but I rarely get to apply for anything directly and agencies stick their own header over the top of contact details anyway.

[pippop1]

All interesting replies. Thanks.

[msrisotto]

It's an interesting question. I went through a period of applying for loss of jobs all around London thinking that I'd tolerate a long commute. I hardly ever got interviews for the furthest away jobs but did end up getting one that happened to be within walking distance of my home! I don't think that is a coincidence.

[msrisotto]

Sh

[msrisotto]

Shit, looks like I've killed your thread! Sorry op!