From the course: Writing a Resume

Include optimal contact information

From the course: Writing a Resume

Include optimal contact information

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- Have you ever hit send on a resume only to realize a moment too late that the email address is wrong, or the phone number is incorrect? It should go without saying that your resume requires a method to contact you. But I have received resumes without a phone number or with a digit missing. Unfortunately, spell check won't catch the fact that your phone number should end in seven when you accidentally hit the six key on your keyboard. And while we're on the subject of phone numbers, if you have a choice to provide music to your caller, don't, at least not while you're job hunting, but if you must, try some classical music. A recruiter or a future employer does not need to know what type of music you like. Assumptions will be made, and stereotypes will be assigned. This goes double for the recording of your four year old telling callers to leave a message. Children are cute, I should know, I've got three of my own, but their voice on my voicemail is not appropriate during the job search process. I implore you to set up your voicemail and frequently clear the messages. If a recruiter calls you for a job opportunity and your voicemail is full, or they hear, you have reached a caller who has not set up their voicemail. There is a high probability they won't call back. "Luck favors the prepared" is one of my favorite sayings, this is because it applies directly to the process of obtaining a job or advancing in your career. In this instance, if you are applying for a job, be prepared, by ensuring your phone is capable of taking messages. In an environment where recruiters are spending less and less time reviewing resumes, if they have already tagged yours as one that is worth reading, make it easy for them. Let them leave a message. Because if they can't, they will intend to call you back later, but someone who was prepared to receive the opportunity might distract them and they may never get around to calling you. Your email address is another item that job applicants will overlook. Make sure you spelled it correctly. An I can look like the number one, an underscore can disappear within a hyperlink, and spellcheck can't determine if your email address is correct. So check and double-check, as well as disable any hyperlinks in order to make it easier to read. Your email address should be a professional one. I won't go into all of the examples of extremely unprofessional email addresses I've seen, but I can give you a few guidelines to work with them. One, use an email address that is close to your name. Use a middle initial, a period, an underscore or hyphen to get the email address you want. Two, if you use numbers in the email, don't use the year of your birth if you don't want people to know how old you are. Three, at a dinner party, you're advised to stay away from topics relating to sex, politics or religion, and the same is true for your email address. Refrain from including references to any of these. Four, keep nicknames and pet names out of your email address. Five, don't use an email address that makes you appear dated and out of touch. Sorry, AOL and Hotmail. You do want to make sure you are reachable, but don't overdo it. Giving three or four phone numbers and multiple email addresses is unnecessary. One of each is sufficient. You can also choose to add a website, a LinkedIn profile, or a link to an online resume, but only do this if it's recruiter ready, meaning, whatever you provide a link to on your resume needs to be just as good as, or even better than what's on your resume. Why? Because you took the time to suggest to the person reading your resume that they should take additional time to review this external material. Include the information only if it's important to the job opportunity, and it warrants the reader taking the additional time to review it. If you're quaking in your boots, you shouldn't. Think through the information in this video from the point of view of the reader, then take a deep breath and sign up for that new email account.

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