In your job search, you have to think about how hiring managers and employers perceive you before they meet you in person. In previous blogs, we’ve given you tips to make sure you maintain a great first impression on your resume and cover letter and even in the interview. Here are some tips to maintain that first impression found in the smallest detail of the job search process: your email.
Choosing Your Email Provider
When you choose an email provider, it’s important to use one that wouldn’t give a hiring manager the wrong impression. Using an outdated or old domain such as msn, sbcglobal, aol, or even hotmail can give the impression that you aren’t tech savvy or current with today’s technology. Gmail, outlook, and yahoo/ymail are excellent email providers for your job search as they are more current and they provide better features to keep you organized. Plus, they’re all free to use.
Creating Your Address
This is the most important tip when creating a professional email address to use for your job applications. Plain and simple, just use your name as your email. Examples include:
- firstnamelastname@domain.com
- firstinitiallastname@domain.com
- firstnamelastinitial@domain.com
You can try different variations of these templates in case your name is already being used for another email account. Add a period, dash, or underscore between your names, or include a number after your name. However, be aware of using numbers that can be interpreted as your age or birth year. You don’t want hiring managers to know how old you are.
Developing Your Signature
Make things easy by creating your email signature in your account rather than constantly adding a signature to every email you send. When you receive an email from a hiring manager or recruiter, you must have the following information in your signature:
- Professional Signature Signoff (i.e. Thank you, Regards, etc.)
- First & Last Name (middle initial/name optional)
- Contact Information (email address, phone number)
- Website URL or LinkedIn Profile link optional
Don’t Use Your Work Address
You may think it might be easier to just use your current work email since you already have a professional email address with a current domain and it already has an email signature set up. DON’T! This would be a HUGE mistake. Many companies monitor their employees’ email and if you start to receive job offers or alerts to your work email, it will tip them off to your job search. Using your work email will also give a very bad first impression to the hiring manager because what you do at your current employment reflects what you would do in your future position.