This week's job seeker best practice goes out to anyone who
got creative when they signed up for an email address. No shame, I did it too.
I just don't recommend using it on a resume and in your communications with
employers.
If this sounds obvious and you are already using an email
address that features only your name, initials, and/or the obligatory numbers
required to secure that email, feel free leave a like and stop reading.
If, however, your email address contains something a little
more creative, please read on.
As you might expect, job seekers say that they should be
able to choose any email address they’d like, and why should prospective
employers or recruiters care one way or the other. And, on the other side of
the fence, many of the recruiters seem to agree with me that having a bad email
address and/or “handle” indicates something that could pose as a problem with
the candidate’s decision-making abilities.
If you really want to know why it matters – to me at least –
let’s get specific…
Choosing an Email Address Is Good (or Bad) PR
There are two parts to the email: The dot com part, and the
“handle” (the name that appears in the inbox of the person receiving the
email).
I firmly believe that candidates should promote a
professional image in every way possible, and that starts with an appropriate
email address because it’s the first impression. It’s simply too competitive in
the job market to leave anything to chance.
If you ask any recruiter or human resources representative
(at any level), they will likely tell you they get emails from people with
wacky addresses every single day – some of which would make you fall off your
chair.
Your email address, in my humble opinion, should never be
anything other than your name (or some version of it). I know it’s not easy to
get something you want because so many other people have taken the good ones,
but here are some examples of how you could manipulate it:
Name: Brian Daniel
- brian.daniel@******.com
- b.daniel@******.com
- daniel.brian@******.com
You could even try trading the “dot” in-between the first
and last name with an underscore ( _ ) or dash/hyphen ( - ); but whatever you
do, don’t use anything that could be perceived as unprofessional or immature.
Here are some real-life examples of emails that I’ve received in my inbox from
job seekers:
- spider_lover@******.com
- spazola1234@******.com
- player-hater@******.com
The eMail “Handle”
This is the actual name that will appear in the inbox of the
recipient, so it should also be your name and nothing else. I regularly get
emails from candidates that only have their first initials or their just their
first name. I even get silly nicknames, or occasionally a woman’s name when the
candidate is a man (or vice versa); perhaps because the email was taken-over by
a spouse.
Well, it shouldn’t be a mystery why a recruiter or hiring
manager can’t take the candidate seriously. If the job seeker says that they
have “attention to detail” in the cover letter and they’re making such
errors/oversights, then how can a candidate be relied on when one might have to
edit the boss’s PowerPoint presentation or proofread the company’s new
brochure?
I could, of course, give hundreds more examples in which
small details that are missed could mean big financial losses for companies of
all sizes.
Why It All Matters to (Most) Recruiters
Unless you have been a recruiter, it’s really hard for
candidates to appreciate how much pressure we have. Working 10 to 12 hours a
day is common. We’re on the phone all day speaking with employers and
candidates; and trying to juggle that with face-to-face interviews.
If we take a chance on a candidate and that person makes us
look bad, then we lose money when the clients take their business elsewhere.
And in this overly-competitive market with an employment agency on every corner,
it really stings a lot.
Every single time – bar none – that I broke my own rule by
“taking a chance” on a candidate that had a racy email address or handle, I
came to regret it later. So while some job seekers accuse recruiters of being
“shallow” for judging them because their email handle is “Smelly Cat”; I simply
ask you to walk in our shoes and try working for weeks (or even months) trying
to place a candidate only to have that person stab you in the back later.
In short: from actual experiences, I have learned that small
warning signs like unprofessional email addresses are indicative of larger
problems that exist, and they manifest themselves in different ways later
down-the-line (including but not limited to no-shows for interviews, and
without even calling).
Put Yourself in the Recruiter’s Shoes
Before you judge a recruiter, just ask yourself the
following: What if…
- You
had your own recruiting business and all of the expenses, pressures and
liabilities that come with it
- You’re
under tremendous pressure from the employer to get the best of the best
candidates possible (ones that cross all of the t’s and dot all of the i’s
because they, directly or indirectly, represent the image of the employer
they work for)
- You’ve
been burned by candidates before that didn’t represent themselves well,
and the client left you (humiliating you after you worked for weeks or
months to get them a job)
Having said all of that: Would you honestly and truly “take
a chance” on a person if their email address said “Office Ninja”? How about
something a little less controversial, like “Pretty Princess”? It’s all the
same, if it’s not your name, it’s too risky and bad PR for the job seeker (and
for the recruiter if they send that person to a client).
You decide for yourself, but if you’re not getting the
interviews you want, then how you represent yourself may be something to
consider. Again, please don’t shoot the messenger.
PROFESSIONAL EMAIL SIGNATURE
Set up a great email signature for yourself. You want to
include contact information in every exchange with a potential employer so that
you are completely accessible. We recommend including your first and last name,
your email address, private phone number, and even a link to your LinkedIn
page. Here’s how it should look.
Nicholas K. Miller
nicholaskmiller@outlook.com
888-555-1234
linkedin.com/nicholasmiller
Once you’ve got your account and your signature set, you may
want to send yourself an email just to check that your formatting looks good.
Review your font and sizing to make sure your settings are standard, and you’re
ready to go! Be sure to check your inbox once daily, at a minimum. You never
know when the perfect position might pop up!
How to Professionally Apply for a Job via Email
Thanks to Jepchirchir Babyline, a student at Maasai Mara
University, I decided to do this post so that we can all learn the basics of
getting that email application read by our prospective employers.
There are many ‘basics’ on how to pen your email application
online today that all you need to do is check on Uncle Google. However, with
her request, I decided to add my voice on the matter as somebody who has
applied for and gotten a job via email; and as someone who at times receives
email applications from people who would love to join my team at different
levels.
In so doing, I have numbered the points – not in any order of precedence as I believe they are all equally important.
Your Email Address
Like in everything you do, first impression matters a lot,
and is hard to wish away. Making a good first impression starts with the email
address you are sending your application from. If you do not have a
professional, appropriate email address, now may be a good time to create one
that you can use for job searching purposes.
Many a time people usually have their year of birth or the
year in which they obtained an email address in their email address. I wouldn’t
go for that. I would go for something to scary either. At times I receive
emails from some addresses that I have to invoke the blood of Jesus before
opening the email!
A simple, yet good looking email address is by using your first and last name. Alternatively, you can get a little bit creative and have you email address give a hint about your area of specialization.
Have a Clear Subject Line.
Many email applicants usually don’t know how to go about
subject lines. This has resulted to many companies and organizations or even
government agencies specifying the subject line to be used on your email
application in their adverts – which to me is very bad since it infringes on
your creativity.
But I can’t blame them, especially in a world where we still
write “Resume” or “Denshi’s Resume” as our subject line.
When applying for a job, always imagine that there are over 1000 other applicants seeking the same position – which might be actually true. Then ask yourself, what would make the recruiter or HR Manager open my email? That should be your subject line! Then move ahead to make it as irresistible as possible while remaining as professional as you can ever get.
Dear Sir/Madam Salutations are a No-no!
The fact that you got interested in the job should be enough
to get you interested in the company or organization you want to work for! This
should enable you do some background research on the company, the head of HR
and much more.
When you address sir or madam, most of time it is very
generic which least appeals to any recruiter. It’s not personalized. It shows
that you are too lazy to even help yourself know more about the person you want
to work for!
Imagine you want to buy some product and there are two
options. One is very generic which is targeted to everyone and other is
personalized to your need. Which one you will go ahead with? Most cases it is
second option.
Most email IDs usually carries the name of the owner of that email. Look out for such hints and personalize the email so that the person reading it at the other end feels valued – call it ego-soothing but it can be the only thing between you and your dream job!
Have a Clear Message Body
Having applied for several positions, submitted proposals
and received emails from applicants, I clearly understand that email message
bodies are sometimes a hard nut to crack.
Avoid “PFA my resume” or “find attached my resume and
documents” one liners. They are so cliché to say the least. If a recruiter
opens your email address and finds such a message, their most probably question
is usually ‘why should I see your resume?’
You need to write a small introduction about yourself which
should not be more than 2 lines. And then you should say why I should think
that you will be fit for the position and how you can help the organization by
being in this position.
Finally “Call for action.” Every email should end with a call for action, what’s next? So you can now add ‘for further discussion please reach me out on this no +254**********. Or better still add ‘please find attached my resume and documents for your consideration’. Now that makes sense.
Avoid spelling mistakes, Short Forms and Generalization.
Make sure before you hit on send button verify twice and do
a spell check. Simple spelling mistakes completely turn employers off.
Secondly, you are sending a professional email, therefore, you cannot afford to
use any short forms. In most cases, short forms leads to miscommunication. So
never use PFA or FYI or bcoz etc.
I was once tasked to recruit Social Media Interns for a
company I was working with. I received an email from an applicant where my
email ID is in BCC that means the same email is sent to many other recruiters
like me. I felt devalued and never cared to read the email.
If you are doing this then that means you don’t even take
time and care to send an email to your prospective employer. It means you are a
gambler with no experience in the sport or any real chance of ever winning any
of your gambles. No employer would like their interests to be handled by a
careless inexperienced gambler.