This would be aided by a country tag as some countries are more mobile dependent than others. It also depends on the jobs you are seeking.

@MatthewGaiser, the OP can only be from the US. Only in the US, the owner of a cell phone is required to have an expensive plan to receive phone calls (while in other countries, that cost is subsidized by the caller, not the receiver of the phone call).

"after all people did that all the time before the advent of mobile phones", true but that is because everyone was equal in their phone capabilities. One could argue that now you need to have a cell phone to reach that same equality (certainly as an adult)

Why not just get a feature phone to take calls with

@Neuromancer, You're obviously not from the US. In the US, congress made a law that says that calls to cell phones must cost the same as calls made to landlines. In other words in the US, cell phone carriers can not subsidize the price of phone plans like they can in other parts of the world.

The US sounds absolutely crazy. In AU you can buy unlimited phone and text plans (with 5 GB data) for $10 USD a month. I think the US is a bit of an outlier (for those reading this question in the future who may not be from the US)

@GregoryCurrie I have a US prepaid plan, unlimited phone and text and 1gb data for $35/month. So it's not quite as crazy as people make out. And I'm sure other people have found even cheaper ways in the US.

@DaveG $35/month = $420/year = thousands of dollars over the years, assuming the phone itself (and the charger) never breaks and costs $0.

@Neuromancer do feature phones work if the 3G network is shut down?

@Allure $10/m is $120/year = thousands of dollars over the years

@DaveG yeah, that's why I would not get a phone even if the plans cost $10/month too.

@GregoryCurrie, even better, in order just to be contactable, in AU one can buy a plan for $1/month (TPG). No included calls and almost no data, but calls are cheap, and that's certainly not "thousands of dollars over the years" territory.

@Zeus Absolutely! But my advice would be to have the capacity to make calls and texts, just incase you just miss a call, you can quickly call back, or if they text you etc. But yeah, second hand phone, and a $1 plan and you're set to receive.

If you use Skype, can people still call you with a phone number? If so, why does it matter to them what kind of phone you use?

@Brandin to my knowledge, not directly. They can still call me if they add me as a contact first. I can call them as well, but in that case, they cannot see a return number.

@Allure Well then that's possibly a problem. I would personally be annoyed at that requirement. I use Skype for personal purposes only and would scoff at the idea of having to add you as a contact first to make a business call. Not professionally suitable in my opinion. If your contact is not actually required I would probably just ignore you rather than to go through the trouble.

"@Allure $10/m is $120/year = thousands of dollars over the years" - yes, after 8.3 years it will have cost $1000... So you have to be satisfied that you won't get more from the new job than in excess of $1000 over 8.3 years (or whatever equivalent yardstick).

@Lag Thousands implies more than one. So you'd be looking at 16+ years. :)

@Allure what is the point of earning money if you refuse to spend it on basic items? I expect you throw away more than $10/month worth of food. Just spend a little bit of money.

"Not having to pay for the phone's data plans has saved me thousands of dollars over the years" - I don't quite follow the logic here. Having a phone doesn't mean using lots of data or having a large bill on the phone. Maybe this is different where you're from, but prepaid plans are roughly free everywhere I've been (no monthly charge, but you may need to spend at least some money occasionally to keep the phone connected).

@Tim you'd be incorrect. I don't throw away food.

@Allure fine. A) my first point still stands: what’s the point in earning money if you don’t spend it on useful things. And B) I’m sure you waste $10 per month in total across everything you do that’s non-optimal. I don’t want to be harsh, but you’ve come here to ask a question, and then ignored the answers because you’ve already decided what you want to hear. Don’t waste our time like this.

@Tim You'd still be incorrect. I spend money on things I find useful. I don't find mobile phones useful in general. Job searches are (potentially, since I'm not currently looking) an exception. Also, I don't waste money in the conventional sense of the word: my monthly expenses look something like "food, accommodation, laundry" and that's it (I walk to work, if you're wondering). I'm not ignoring answers (I upvoted SZCZERZO KŁY's answer for example) but what you've written is not an answer to the question in the OP.

@Dukeling I checked, the plans of that kind that are available here expire in 30 days, at which point it is effectively a monthly bill.

@Allure good for you. I wish you the best of luck in the search.

I know you've already said you're not keen to specify which country you're in, but can you not at least give a general area (i.e. Western Europe, South-East Asia, North Africa)? Local culture is certainly relevant to the answer.

I'm sure you're telling the truth but I can't find a country that widely uses phones but do not have pre-paid plans.

@Azrantha I'm not keen to discuss that any further. The answer to whether I have "pay as you go" in my country is not relevant to the question posed in the OP.

@Allure It changes whether there is a disadvantage to having a phone, which (as part of a cost-benefit analysis) will change the answers you receive. You have mostly covered that off by implying that all mobile phone plans in your country require a monthly subscription plan. After all, if you only need to spend $10 on the phone as a one-off, plus $5 per year on credit after that, then that's quite a different calculation from a $30-per-month contract. Similarly, being in a position where you could typically be contacted via landline instead (eg home-worker) would change the answers too.

Just want to point out that "thousands of dollars over the years" may be technically correct, but it's not impressive. You're talking about participating in the job market, which means you're likely contemplating outcomes worth hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars "over the years". A <1% premium to maintain your income potential is not an overhead worth the risk you're taking on trying to dance round it.

You can literally just pay a one-time fee for a sim card / phone number and never have to pay again (Except maybe for the occasional top-up to not let your number be shut down in different countries). There's literally no advantage to NOT having a phone number. Buy a $5 phone and a sim. Be done with it.

@Will assuming it does have an impact, which is what this question is asking. Also remember, I am not currently looking for a job, so maintaining a phone has literally no advantage. If Gizmo disagrees he is free to send me some money and I'll maintain a phone for as long as he pays for the prepaid card.

In our day and age, a mobile phone is a necessity. It long time ago stopped being a luxury, or even a helpful tool. It's a need. I would totally understand not having one if for someone in a very difficult financial situation (homeless, no money for food, that kind of unfortunate situation). Outside of that I would judge anyone refusing to get one. And that kind of stubbornness tells more about a person than you think. I personally would not hire someone like this.

@StephanBranczyk Partly because US cell phone numbers are not distinguished from landline numbers, so callers have no way to tell whether it's cell or landline, so it's unfair to charge them different rates.

@Azrantha, @Chronocidal, @EpicKip, Pay As You Go (prepaid) plans exist in the United States, but those are expensive too! That's the part that many of you don't seem to understand.

And @Gizmo, No, $5 phones do not exist in the United States. Well, technically they do, but they come with a $50 a month plan, not a $25 a month plan. Once again, things are different in the United States. If you want to know why, read the last comment from TRIG.

@StephanBranczyk Hence why everyone has been trying to establish which country OP was posting in, so that the types of plan available could be understood for context/feasibility. Something OP was insisting was "not relevant" - but you have just demonstrated my comment about why it is, and why their last edit to the question was valuable (Plus, from OP's previous questions, it appears that they may be based in Asia, rather than the USA)

@Chronocidal it is not relevant. The question asks whether there's a disadvantage. "Yes there is a disadvantage" is an answer to the question. "You should get a mobile phone, it's not as expensive as you think it is" is not.

You don't have to buy a phone or a SIM to have a phone number. Sign up for Google Voice (or a similar service) and answer them on your laptop or let them go to voicemail and listen to them at your convenience.