Get contacted! Our how-to guide on showing contact info on your resume

The only way to be contacted about a job is to have your contact information displayed on your resume. We will tell you all about the personal contact section of your resume, what you should have, and what should be removed. Plus examples of how you can format it. Keep reading our how-to guide and get contacted by a recruiter!

In this article, we’ll discuss

• What to include in the contact info section of your resume

• How to avoid discrimination by removing items from your contact info section

• Examples of common contact info sections of resumes

What should be included in your contact information section on a resume?

Review your resume and make sure your contact information section has all of these elements. 

Name

First and last names will work fine here, feel free to leave out your middle name.

City and state

This is useful for recruiters for a few reasons. If the position is remote, this will indicate what timezone you operate in and whether that could complicate meetings. It can also inform an employer of an interest in moving to a new city for a job, versus already living there. 

Phone number

Provide one phone number of whichever line you use most frequently. You don’t want to provide a number where a message might be left unheard for multiple days. 

If you’d like to keep your personal phone number private, try downloading Google Voice. It is an app for your phone that lets you pick a different phone number. That new phone number will still be associated with your phone, via the app. So you can send and receive texts and phone calls from this different number while still operating from your main phone. The app is free to download too. 

Email

If you have a silly email, now is the time to create a new one! Whatever email is on your resume needs to be professional sounding. If you are in a position to be making a new email address, Gmail is the most recommended provider. Google is one of the most prolific tools in the world, and when you have a Gmail account, it automates all of your other Google apps into one platform. Very handy in today’s professional world!

LinkedIn

We have officially entered the time when it’s expected to have a LinkedIn. Including your LinkedIn website address in the contact info section of your resume will invite people to visit your page. LinkedIn profiles are basically an extension of our resume. With the ample space it provides, you can elaborate on your skills and achievements, as well listing associated references and verified skills.

What should NOT be included in your contact information section on a resume?

Avoid these common mistakes when preparing your contact information section. 

Address

To protect yourself from location discrimination, leave off your specific home address. It’s also a matter of personal safety. There’s no telling how many people come across your resume. With online applications, resumes can even be susceptible to a data breach. It’s always best to keep your residence out of the public eye. 

This also creates a more equitable experience for houseless or transient people who are pursuing a new job. 

Photo

It’s common in many other countries to include a photo of yourself in the contact info section of your resume. In the US, however, it’s seen as unprofessional. It also opens people up to discrimination based on race, gender, professional appearance, or skin tone. To avoid this altogether, just leave a photo out.

Age

Recruiters and interviewers are actually not allowed to ask a candidate how old they are, as it opens people up for age discrimination. This is also why it’s recommended to remove high school graduation dates from your resume (technically, anything relating to high school should probably be removed from an experienced professional’s resume).

Gender

Again, this comes back to discrimination. It’s well documented that men in America have been historically perceived - and treated - as the more professionally capable gender. Avoid having any light cast on you by removing gender from your resume. 

On the flip side, it has become common for pronouns to be included on resumes. This creates an inclusive precedent for trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people. It is usually documented as simply as she/her, he/him, or they/them.

Examples of contact info sections on a resume

These are three of the most commonly found resume contact info sections. Feel free to copy them into your own resume. You can add this section right into the header of your document. Just remember to keep the formatting consistent. So whatever size, color, and font you use for your name should be repeated (although you can use a smaller size) for all of the other section titles on your resume. 

Key takeaways

1. If you want to get contacted, you need to have a contact info section on your resume.

2. Keep it simple. Only include your name, email, phone number, LinkedIn, and general location. 

3. Protect yourself from discrimination. Remove your specific home address, photo, age, and gender.