There are many pleasures in life but all pale in comparison to the joy and excitement of filling out a job application.
If only that sentence were true. In reality, job application forms are stressful and time-consuming. The fact that job application forms have their own special kind of shorthand adds to the stress.
Case in point: the extremely confusing phrase, “current address from date.”
What does “current address from date” mean?
In plain English, “current address from date” means “when did you start living where you live now?” This phrase is usually just found on forms.
The meaning of “current address”
The word “current” is an adjective used to show that a noun is happening now. When we speak of “current events,” for instance, we mean “things that are happening now.”
Likewise, your “current address” is where you live right now.
On job applications, college applications and other types of form where you are expecting some kind of answer, you may be asked to list your address so a company can contact you.
It wouldn’t help much to know where you used to live, so sometimes forms will specify that they want to know your current address.
Of course, this phrase can be used outside of forms. Simply place it in a sentence nearly anywhere the word “address” can be used.
Examples
| current address | from date |
|---|---|
| [fill in info here] | [fill in info here] |
“Franz’s current address may have been on the unfashionable side of town, but he was determined he would live in the castle someday.”
“Sylvie spent an hour on the online job application but failed to realize she’d put her parents’ address down for her current address until after she submitted it.”
These two sentences both use “current address” to refer to the place where the person in question lives currently, or now.
The meaning of “from date”
Unlike the phrase “current address,” you’re unlikely to see “from date” on anything outside of a form.
That’s because forms often have limited space to make themselves understood and have developed an extensive pseudo-language of shortened English phrases as a result.
All the same, even though “from date” isn’t exactly grammatical it’s pretty easy to understand. All you have to do is imagine the word “what” in between “from” and “date.”
When you see “from date” on a form, just imagine that someone’s asking you, “From what date?” Now, the meaning of this phrase is perfectly clear.
In some cases, you might also see the closely related phrase “start date” used.
The meaning is essentially the same, but “start date” is usually used to refer to periods of employment, while “from date” is more general.
In some cases, you may even see the word “from” by itself. Again, this means the same thing as “from date.”
Examples
This example, typical in a job application form, asks for both the applicant’s current address and the “from date.”
| current employer | from date |
|---|---|
| [fill in info here] | [fill in info here] |
In this example, the form is asking for the applicant’s current employer. Although “start date” might be used in some cases, “from date” means the same thing.
The form wants to know how long the applicant has worked at their current job.
Putting it all together — “Current address from date”
When you put the meaning of “current address” and “from date” together, you get “current address from date.”
Since we already know that “current address” means “the place you live right now” and “from date” means “how long,” it’s pretty easy to arrive at the meaning of this longer phrase.
To restate it in plain English, though, a form that’s asking for your “current address from date” is asking for the date you started living at the place you live right now.
If you moved into your house on June 6, 2019, then your “current address from date” would also be June 6, 2019.
If you just started living in your new apartment a week ago, then whatever that date was would be your “current address from date.”
Why companies care how long you’ve lived at your current address
It might seem strange to ask about how long you’ve lived at your home.
In fact, there are some good reasons for this question. Some companies might like to know that you don’t move around a lot, especially if they see you making big moves across country every few years.
More likely is the need for references and background checks.
Asking how long you’ve lived in your current town and at your current address helps tell you apart from other people who might have a similar name, meaning your information is less likely to get mixed up with theirs.
It would be nice if this were stated in plain English, though.
Hey fellow Linguaholics! It’s me, Marcel. I am the proud owner of linguaholic.com. Languages have always been my passion and I have studied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics and Sinology at the University of Zurich. It is my utmost pleasure to share with all of you guys what I know about languages and linguistics in general.