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
2), and so is the judicious use of italics (Sample
3).
Matching
lines at the bottom of a résumé sometimes help to create a
sense of balance so the résumé is not top heavy (Sample
4). The address can be centered under or between the
line(s) (Sample 5),
made to follow the same format as the text of the résumé (Sample
6), or tab aligned (Sample
7).
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.