Contact Information on Your Resume

Superman's contact information includes a phone booth. What is your contact information? From wikipedia.org

You noticed that I listed Clark Kent, aka Superman’s, middle initial J. Well, there’s a reason why I included a middle initial. There may be 2 Clark Kents in town. What if Clark P. Kent was a rounder who appeared on his Facebook page under compromising circumstances with women? And what if Clark J. Kent’s future employer googled Clark Kent and ran across Clark P. Kent’s Facebook page and not knowing Clark’s middle initial said to himself, “I’m not going to hire him! He’s a lout!”

If you included the middle initial, and see Clark P. Kent’s Facebook page then you won’t confuse him with Clark J. Kent. By the way, I googled Clark Kent, and found out that tradition lists his middle name as Jerome or Joseph, thus the J. So there, you thought I picked any initial out of the alphabet, didn’t you?

I would like to say one more thing about listing a name on your resume. A friend of mine Patricia, who was an electrical engineer by trade, always listed her first name as Pat on professional documents, including a resume, so as to lead people to believe she was a he, Patrick. This way she would get more interviews in a male dominated trade. Did it work? Yes, but as soon as they saw a very feminine looking Patricia the jig was up. Illegal or not the recruiter made sure that Patricia knew that the company only wanted to hire a he, so in a way it was a waste of time on Patricia’s part. You be the judge on how to list your first name, and middle names, such as using your initials such as CJ Kent, etc. I suppose if you were a male kindergarten teacher in a female dominated field listing only your first two initials may be to your benefit also. You decide.

Moving on, your address. Should you list a PO Box or your house address? Well, it all depends. I would list your house or apartment as an address and not a PO Box if you are stable and not moving from one friends’ house to another. I know sometimes one becomes homeless without a job, and rely on a bevy of friends that want to help. If you need a stable address then pay for a PO Box, and list it on your resume. A house address makes you look more stable, than a PO Box or an apartment address but this brings up other issues.

How? You ask. Well, I was living at my Mom’s and Dad’s house and had listed their address on my resume. The recruiter wanted to know how I could afford a house payment when she could tell on the resume that I haven’t worked in ages. She asked if I was involved in prostitution or another illegal activity in order to afford this house payment. She also wanted to know if I lived with my boyfriend, and was it his house? I had listed Miss not Ms. on my application, so that ruled out a husband, of course. Big mistake. I told the recruiter it was my parents’ house. I looked like a moocher. I couldn’t win. In her eyes, I was either a whore, or a tramp, or a moocher. True story.

Another problem that may occur with a house address is the distance from the house to the job. At another interview occurring later that same year, the interviewer wanted to know how could I drive from the far East of the Valley (Phoenix Metro Area) 150 miles one way every day to go to work in West Phoenix, the far West end of the Valley, and be on time, and refreshed. She told me that they gave up hiring people who lived more than 10 miles away as they were always late and cranky when they finally fought the commuter traffic to arrive at work. I told her I didn’t own the house, and I was ready to move to a close apartment as soon as tomorrow.

Now if I apply for a job more than 30 miles away in my cover letter I mention that I will move closer as soon as possible.

Okay, I’ve written a ton, and I’m only on the home phone. Obviously you are going to have to have an easy way for a recruiter to get in touch with you, hence a phone. Sometimes though you can’t pay the phone bill, if so ask your neighbor if you can use his phone number, and see if he or she will take messages for you.

My mother and father used to own a Laundromat in East Mesa, and the business was located close to a tent encampment of homeless people who lived in the dry river desert bed. The homeless would somehow get enough change to come in and wash their clothes once a week. When my parents owned the laundry in the early ’700’s, this time period preempted cell phones and thus no phone in the desert. For two families Mom offered to let them use our pay phone, and our business address for their mail. We would take messages for them, and pass the messages along when we would see them again. Because of this the 2 homeless people got a job, and worked themselves and their family out of the river bed, and into a trailer park.

So if you want to be a Super Man, or Super Woman let someone without an address or a phone use yours to get a job. St. Joseph, the Worker, a Roman Catholic employment center in Phoenix, Arizona does just that. It lets homeless men and women give out the employment center’s phone number, and address, and of course the staff takes messages. Without this help no one would get off the streets.

Speaking of your telephone, also, remember that employers like the world to be made easy for them. If Clark J. Kent in New York was always calling home to talk to his parents Martha, and Jonathan Kent in Smallville, Kansas then the recruiters would get a busy signal, and go on to the next applicant. I don’t care if you are Superman, you aren’t in so much in demand that people will try to reach you forever. I learned this from experience after I found out that I was passed over for a supervisory position because I wasn’t home to answer the phone. All Target did was go on to the next qualified applicant. Obviously, you can’t live for a phone call, so there has to be some balance. Speaking of balance I have learned from experience, recruiters love to call at the end of their business day at 10 minutes to 5, so especially try to keep the phone free during that time. Of course modern day Supermen and women are always out saving the world so always invest in an answering machine for the times you aren’t at home, and check your messages remotely many times during the day.

It’s also good to have a message phone either a cell phone or a neighbor’s phone in case recruiters give up on the busy signal and try the other number.

I still haven’t run out of items to discuss, and I am ready to discuss the newest contact devise email.

I have had recruiters never call me, but send me an email that reads, “Your interview has been scheduled at such and such time, in such and such place, please arrive promptly.”

So in other words, no asking if you can make it, no courtesy phone call, just an email that basically says in so many words, if you want this job, show up. You can easily see who has the power there can’t you?

I always wondered what if I didn’t have an email address to list it on my resume? Would they call instead? I don’t know. And I don’t want to find out either.

Okay, I know most of you can’t afford an internet connection, and can’t email. There are usually community classes where you can learn how to email. Check at your local library or local employment offices. Also, the library, and your local employment office will help you set up an email account for free on yahoo, or gmail.com. Maybe a family member or neighbor will let you use their computer for emailing, and will show you how to do it.

Once again, employers like to send email at the close of their business day, and if the email comes from the corporate office it may be coming from a different time zone. I would check your email at the end of your business day, every business day, in case an employer wants you to show up or call them tomorrow for an interview. I’m defining a business day as a business day for your industry usually when the Human Resource office is open, Monday through Friday.

Once again, I’m not oblivious to the trouble of checking your email every day. If you can’t afford an internet connection, and a computer, I know this takes gas money to run down to the library to use its free computers, but I can’t find a way around this unless you talk a neighbor into helping you. I think you can deduct the price of an internet connection off your taxes as a job hunting expense, but I’m not sure.

Once again you can be a Super man or Super woman for Christmas or someone’s birthday by gifting them a gas gift card.

Okay, I think I’ve covered all the Supermen and Superwomen, Superboys, and Supergirls’ job hunting contact information, and I am at a whopping 1,800 words. So did I fulfill my promise to discuss a very important area on the resume, contact information? I think so. Guess what? It took almost 1,800 words to do it.