E-mails are key in our technology-driven world but what about those haunting, often embarrassing email addresses! Victoria Colverson has written an interesting article concerning the impact your email address can have on prospective recruitment opportunities.
I was speaking with a long-time friend of mine who used to be a PA for a UK and Ireland infrastructure company based in the North West on the weekend. After the obligatory recap of reality TV and who we had recently spoken to, we got on to the inevitable topic of work. She is currently working for a ‘back-to-work’ company and has a similar role to myself in that she is an integral part of a Candidate’s Journey and is often the first point of contact for both clients and candidates.
We started discussing the regional job scenes and candidate base and the mistakes that candidates make when applying for jobs in these times of advanced technology. This included her sending me a link to a Blog post she had read regarding emails. Although the research presented in the Blog was America based, it got me thinking of my candidates and applicants and some of their emailed applications and the email addresses that they are sent from versus their ‘desired job role’ within any of the companies Exclusive work with.
It appears to me that people often feel they can hide behind their email address and that it doesn’t have an effect on their application; unfortunately this idea is incredibly misleading. First impressions count for a lot, and that includes the email address you use to submit an application.
When I see applications for senior level HR or Director roles from email addresses such as candygirl5000@ oriluvz_robbiewilliams@ I really do cringe. Here, we have a word perfect CV detailing over 20 years of professional experience within a fast-paced environment… sent from an email address they probably created when they were a teenager.
Why would this be acceptable? Would it be acceptable for there to be spelling and typing errors? Would it be acceptable to use slang and expletives? No. So why do people often think such email addresses are acceptable and professional?
How you as a candidate pitch yourself to prospective employers is really important, especially in an extremely competitive job market. When it comes down to the wire, and the only aspect of your application that differed from another was the email address, then john.smith@email.com may be the one which goes through due to an appearance of professionalism.
I quite agree. This is why I have a very sensible email address for such uses. I also have one for my music, and one for general trash like competitions as I know that one will get spammed to death.
This is a very important point to make and also one that equally applies to freelancers and soletraders. In fact I blogged about it last week:
http://www.nbsadminassist.co.uk/blog/howprofessionalareyou
If you have your own website/domain then you should have an email address @yourdomain and not a free one at gmail or hotmail etc. The are quite simple to get, show how serious you take your job and how professional you are.
Jo Oliver makes a good point too, in respect of good email management, keep a spare one for competitions and newsletter sign ups to filter out spam.