Recently I wrote a post with some cv tips (https://legaljobtips.com/2012/11/15/my-top-10-cv-tips/); tip no. 9 included a view that you should leave your home address off a cv.  When I wrote that all I knew was:

1. most people included it, and

2. I had a hunch that it didn’t seem right,

but other than that I hadn’t given it that much thought.

Not really a major point, but since then I have been asked quite a few times why I said that – and have luckily just found a really good answer that I now use.  It’s to be found on pages 84 and 85 of the updated 2012 edition of my favourite careers book “What colour is your parachute?” by Richard N. Bolles (http://www.jobhuntersbible.com/). 

I remember enjoying an old edition of that book about 10 years ago, but it didn’t include this new section about the on-line world.   Basically what Bolles now says is that you lose control of your cv when you send it out, especially if you choose to post it on line.  There is effectively no way for you to take it down and he mentions “digital spiders” that can copy anything posted on-line. 

I don’t really know what a digital spider is, and it’s probably not that big an issue; but Companies House no longer requires company directors to publish their home addresses in the public domain for security reasons.  So the same thing might apply to everyone else.  What I do know is that (i) you can trust large potential employers on their application forms if they ask for your home address and (ii) for everyone else, they can get in touch via e-mail.