I live in St. Petersburg, but for the last year and a half I've been working remotely for a Moscow company. Now I'm looking for a new job. Should I mention in my resume that I'm not in Moscow, or should I just apply first and explain it at the interview? I'm worried they'll reject me right away.
It's really a tricky situation because staying silent about it in your resume can backfire on you when you least expect it. If you make it through a few interviews and only then say "oh, by the way, I'm in St. Petersburg," the company might feel deceived, even if remote work technically solves the problem. Better to put your city right there - if the job allows remote work, it's not an issue at all, but if it requires being in the office, you'll get filtered out early and won't waste time on pointless interviews. The main thing to watch out for though: check your Moscow company's contracts to see if there are any restrictions on working from a different region - it might matter for HR when they're calculating taxes or insurance.
I'd put it in your resume honestly, but it depends on the job. If the company is clearly looking for someone in the office - yeah, you risk getting filtered out, but there's no point hiding it anyway, it'll come out later and raise more questions. If the job is remote or the company is fine with distributed teams, mentioning your location isn't a problem at all. The main thing is to show right away that you're ready to work Moscow time and that you're stable, if that matters to the employer.
The key thing is to look at how the job posting is worded. If it says "office work in Moscow required" or "mandatory in-office presence," then hiding it is pointless and counterproductive. But if nothing specific is mentioned about location or there's a mention of remote work being possible, you can just write in your resume "remote, based in St. Petersburg" and not make a big deal out of it. Honesty works in your favor here, because the company gets a clear picture upfront - either they're fine with it or they're not.
But if you stay quiet and go through several interviews, then come clean, you create the impression that you were hiding information. Even if your reasons made sense, it can breed distrust - like, if you already hid one thing, what else are you hiding? It's easier to be honest once and filter out companies that won't work with your setup than to explain yourself later.
Pro tip: add a line to your resume like "willing to travel for work" or "open to in-office onboarding" - it shows flexibility and can put an employer at ease if they're a bit concerned about the distance. Then even if you're in St. Petersburg, it comes across not as a problem but as something with a solution.
Read the job description - that's your main guide. If it explicitly says "office in Moscow," "office presence required," or "relocation mandatory," then definitely don't hide it. You'll both waste time: the recruiter will be annoyed when they find out after several interview rounds, and you'll end up caught between location and qualifications, with the employer picking a more convenient candidate.
But if the job posting just describes the role without any location tie-in, mentions remote work as an option, or at least doesn't forbid it - then you can add one line to your resume header: "Location: St. Petersburg, remote work available" or something along those lines 😊 That way you're being honest but immediately giving context that you're ready for the format you've already been doing for a year and a half.
The main thing is don't stay silent for too long. If you hide it in your resume and then everything comes out at the second interview, it looks like you were hiding something from them, and trust goes down. Better to be honest and open from the start.
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