Years ago, when I worked in the human resources department at a school, I had an awesome resume in front of me, just brilliant! It was for a preschool teacher's position. And this teacher had it all—years of great experience, all the right classes & education, a great philosophy towards teaching. She was even bilingual, just what we needed at that time.
"I think she's it," I told a co-worker, grinning, and dialed up this teacher's number. And the person who answered told me something that gave me that old sinking feeling. "You have the wrong number."
So I gave the standard apology and hung up. I dialed again, carefully this time, just in case my anxious fingers had gotten a little carried away before. The thing was, lots of applicants had already been interviewed, and not too many seemed right for the position. This particular teacher, so far, was best qualified (groan). She was perfect!
Same person answered. Same "wrong number" line said, with much more emphasis this time. And I gave the same sincere apology, with a lot more regret this time.
I even tried dialing a few similar numbers. Nothing at all. All wrong numbers.
As ridiculously simple as this might sound, if you’d like to get phone calls for interviews, you've gotta include your phone number, your correct phone number, on both your resume & your resume cover letter.
I’m not joking—I’ve actually seen, not one, but several resumes and cover letters, more than I should have, with incorrect phone numbers, or worse, without a phone number at all.
So do something priceless and take the time to go over your contact information, because you never know—any one of us could accidentally type a wrong digit in our telephone number, or an incorrect letter in our email address. It’s an honest mistake, and it happens. So steadily comb through your resume, making sure it’s all correct, and never think you’re being too careful.
Another thing—be sure that your correct contact information is on your cover letter, and on all pages of your resume. This is good to do, because at times, pages can get shuffled around. This way, if any of your pages are lost or separated, you’ll always have your correct contact information on every page, no matter what.
Putting together a compelling, interview-winning resume & cover letter—now who, searching for a better career, wouldn’t want to do that? But without the right contact information on it, it becomes as bad as Charlie Brown’s rock-filled trick-or-treat bag—just plain useless.
