Should I change to a local cell phone number for job search?

[lesamourai]

I just moved to a new city and now conducting my job search. Does an out of state phone number matter these days if the listed address is local on a resume? The reason I ask is I have a very nice easy to remember cell phone number that I've been using for year and I hate to change it. But I've heard some employers will assume you are out of state based on the area code and screen you out automatically. Any thoughts? Thanks!

[Heavy Fluid]

Wirelessly posted (Fluid's: Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows Phone OS 7.5; Trident/5.0; IEMobile/9.0; HTC; mwp6985))

As long as your address is local, it shouldn't be an issue. With number porting and people constantly moving, it is hard to always tell what is local and what isn't.

[DRNewcomb]

Have you considered getting a local Google Voice number?

[johnhere]

I had an out of area phone for a while and it didn't make a difference. I had a few companies call me at the time(I was just out if school) and none of them had any issues with it. In fact, 99% of the time most called me from a cell phone anyways. The company I work for now conducted my first interview over the phone. They called me at 9 at night from their cellphone while at home watching their kids and eating dinner.

[DennyCrane]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry Bold 9900: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9900; en) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.391 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

If it were me I'd probably get a local voip number at the very least; you can forward it to your out of state phone if you want.

[lesamourai]

Have you considered getting a local Google Voice number?

I've been using Google Voice and thought you can only dial out but not receive calls.

[DRNewcomb]

I've been using Google Voice and thought you can only dial out but not receive calls.

There are a couple of ways to set it up. They way I have it set up I have a local GV number which forwards to any of several phones I've listed. When I make a callback using GV it appears to come from that local GV number.

[NGeorge]

I'd get a local GV or voip number as well and forward to your cell phone. It just looks better--and if nothing else, you at least took a few minutes to make your resume as professional as possible.

When I'm hiring and see an out of state number (or a PO Box or commercial mailbox address for that matter), it always has prompted me to ask if their local, how long they've been here, what prompted the move etc.

I guess it depends on how comfortable you are answering those questions the first go round--I can honestly say it has never kept me from hiring someone--although the secretary does sort them into "local" and "not local" right off the bat, and she has misfiled a couple times due to this exact reason lol

So, I suggest getting a local number... it's one less thing that can go wrong. If anyone here has hired lately, you'll understand the pure crush of unqualified applicants you get from online recruiting sources (I'm never posting on Craigslist again! 380 resumes to go through, 1 only halfway qualified even though it was spelled out VERY clear) and people who are just applying for a tick on their unemployment sheets.

Nat

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[timtim2008]

yes local number (even if its only a temp prepaid phone)

[Extraordinary]

yes local number (even if its only a temp prepaid phone)

x2

It does look better, especially for the older folks. You never know who is going to be reading your stuff so might as well make that small investment and get a local # one way or another.

[noelm]

Pardon my ignorance but who still pays for 'long distance calls'? As far as I read, every provider is nationwide. Pls correct me if I am wrong.