Resume Header & Contact Info: What to Include (and What to Skip)

Your resume header is the first thing both ATS systems and hiring managers encounter. It takes up roughly 10% of your resume's real estate, yet it controls 100% of whether anyone can actually reach you. Most guides treat it as an afterthought — "just put your name and phone number at the top." That advice is incomplete, and sometimes dangerous.

This guide shows you exactly what your resume header format should contain, what to leave out, how different ATS platforms parse header data, and the formatting mistakes that silently cost candidates interviews.

Before diving into what to include, here is the complete picture. Every element in your header falls into one of three categories: must-include, optional, or never-include. Getting this wrong does not just look unprofessional — it can break ATS parsing entirely.

Every resume header needs these five elements. Omit any one and you risk either ATS parsing failure or a recruiter who cannot contact you.

1. Full Name

Use your legal name as it appears on official documents. ATS systems store this as the primary identifier and match it against application records. Avoid nicknames ("Mike" instead of "Michael"), middle initials unless you always use them, and brand names. If your legal name differs from your preferred name, use your legal name for ATS and add your preferred name in parentheses: Michael (Mike) Rodriguez.

2. Professional Title / Current Role

A 2-4 word job title that matches your target role. This is not your current job title — it is the title the ATS will match against the posting. If you are a "Marketing Coordinator" applying for "Digital Marketing Manager" positions, use the target title. ATS keyword matching starts with the title line. Examples: "Senior Data Engineer," "Full Stack Developer," "Healthcare Administrator."

3. Phone Number

Format matters more than you think. ATS systems use regex patterns to detect phone numbers, and non-standard formats can break parsing. Use (XXX) XXX-XXXX or XXX-XXX-XXXX — these are the two most universally parsed formats. Avoid spaces between digits, dots as separators (415.555.1234), or international formatting unless applying abroad. Make sure your voicemail is set up and sounds professional.

4. Email Address

Use a professional format: firstname.lastname@gmail.com. A CareerBuilder study found that 76% of recruiters reject resumes with unprofessional email addresses. Avoid numbers that suggest a birth year (sarah1987@), old providers that signal outdated tech skills (aol.com, yahoo.com for tech roles), and novelty addresses (cooldude99@). Keep the entire email on one line — line breaks can corrupt ATS parsing.

5. City, State (or City, Country)

ATS systems use geographic data for location-based job matching. Many recruiters filter by location before reviewing any other qualification. Include City, State only — never your full street address. Full addresses are a privacy risk and provide no additional ATS matching value. If you are relocating, list the target city and add "relocating to [city]" in your cover letter.

These elements are not required, but they can add value — if formatted correctly. Formatted incorrectly, they can break ATS parsing or waste precious header space.

LinkedIn Profile URL — Include only if your profile is complete (500+ connections, custom headline, experience matching your resume). Use the customized URL format: linkedin.com/in/yourname, not the default random string. Note that most ATS systems store LinkedIn URLs but do not parse their content. Hiring managers may visit it manually.

Portfolio or Personal Website — Essential for designers, developers, writers, and creatives. Use your own domain if possible (yourname.com). For developers, a GitHub profile (github.com/yourname) with active repositories can be as valuable as a portfolio. Only include if the work showcased is relevant to the target role.

Professional Title Variation — If you have held multiple relevant titles, you can subtitle your current role. Example: "SARAH JOHNSON - Senior Marketing Manager | Growth & Analytics." Use this sparingly — it should clarify, not confuse.

These elements actively harm your candidacy. Some introduce illegal bias into the hiring process. Others break ATS parsing. All of them waste space that could be used for relevant qualifications.

Photo or Headshot — In the US, including a photo invites unconscious bias based on age, race, and appearance. It also causes ATS parsing errors since many systems attempt to OCR image regions and corrupt surrounding text. The only exception: acting, modeling, or roles where appearance is a bona fide occupational qualification.

Date of Birth or Age — Age discrimination is illegal under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Including your birth date provides information that cannot legally be used in hiring decisions but can unconsciously influence them. Never include birth date, graduation years older than 15 years, or any age markers.

Full Street Address — City and state provide sufficient location data for ATS matching. A full address creates privacy risk (identity theft, stalking) and provides zero additional hiring value. Every major ATS platform performs location matching on city-level data only.

Marital Status, Dependents, Health — Illegal to consider in US hiring decisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Never include "Married," "Single," number of children, or health status. International resumes in some markets (EU, Asia) may differ — research local norms.

Salary Expectations — Listing your salary in the header anchors the negotiation before it starts. Even when a job posting requests salary requirements, put them in a cover letter — never on the resume itself. You lose leverage the moment a number appears on your resume.

Not all ATS systems parse header data the same way. Understanding these differences helps you format your header for maximum compatibility — especially if you are applying across industries where different platforms dominate.

The takeaway: format for the weakest ATS in your target market. If you are applying to Fortune 500 companies (many use Taleo or Workday), use the simplest possible header layout — single column, standard separators, no special characters, no tables.

The difference between a header that parses perfectly and one that fails is often invisible to the human eye. Here are two headers with identical information — one works, one doesn't.

These are the most frequent header formatting mistakes, ranked from most to least damaging. Every error on this list has been observed in real ATS parsing failures.

Contact info in Word header/footer region

Most ATS systems skip the header/footer region entirely. Your name and phone number become invisible. Fix: Move all contact info into the main document body.

Contact info embedded in a text box or image

Text boxes and images are completely invisible to ATS parsers. Zero extraction. Fix: Use plain text only. No graphics, text boxes, or embedded objects.

Multi-column header layout

Some ATS read columns left-to-right across both columns, merging "San Francisco" with "(415) 555-1234" into gibberish. Fix: Use single-column layout for the header section.

Non-standard phone format (dots, spaces)

Formats like 415.555.1234 or 415 555 1234 fail regex matching on older systems. Fix: Use (XXX) XXX-XXXX or XXX-XXX-XXXX exclusively.

Spaced-out name for design effect

"S A R A H J O H N S O N" is read as individual characters, not a name. Fix: Write your name normally. Use font size for visual impact, not spacing.

Special characters as separators

Pipe characters and symbols can confuse field boundary detection in some ATS. Fix: Use line breaks or standard bullet points sparingly.

Before submitting any application, run through this final check:

Your resume header is small but critical. It is the bridge between a strong resume and an actual interview invitation. Get it right, and every other section of your resume has a chance to do its job. Get it wrong, and none of it matters — because no one will ever see it.