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EMAIL WRITING TIPS FOR
ENTRY-LEVEL JOB SEEKERS
Lindsey Pollak
is the author of "Getting from College to Career: 90 Things to Do Before You
Join the Real World" (HarperCollins, 2007)
http://lindseypollak.blogspot.com
Dear Job Seeker:
When you're hungry for a sandwich you step up to the deli counter and ask for it. If you're in the market for a new car, you go to a dealership and ask to see the model you're interested in. And if you spot a book you'd like to buy, you ask the clerk to ring up your purchase. ASKING is the first key to getting what you want. Asking effectively is the second and most important key. Yet many job hunters forget this essential key when it comes to an interview for the job they're eager to fill.
In a recent survey, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas asked
executives, "What skill do entry-level job seekers lack the most?" Nearly
half of respondents (45%) said that entry-level job seekers need to be
better writers. According to an article about the survey in The New York
Times:
"It seems that some young employees are now guilty of the technological
equivalent of wearing flip-flops: they are writing company email as if they
were texting cellphone messages with their thumbs."
I've definitely noticed a lack of proper grammar and etiquette in many
emails I've received from college students and recent grads. Here are some
tips to make sure you're emailing like a professional:
1. DNUCAPE, or, Do Not Use Cute Acronyms in Professional Emails. You never
know whether people are familiar with the same abbreviations that you are.
Skip the LOLs, TTFNs, BRBs, etc.
2. Do use proper capitalization and punctuation. my biggest pet peeve when
it comes to emails i receive from college students is that everything is in
lower case and there is very little punctuation if any at all trust me its
not cute its really unprofessional so please dont do it thnx. AND NOTE THAT
ALL CAPS MAKES IT LOOK LIKE YOU ARE YELLING.
3. Do cool it on the exclamation points! This is another big pet peeve among
the older professionals I meet!! Young people email them and use way too
many exclamation points!!! One or two in an email is more than enough;
otherwise you look really, really young and kind of annoying!!!!
4. Do not leave the subject line blank. In today’s overloaded inboxes, most
people are likely to overlook or delete any message that looks like spam, so
it’s smart to include a helpful subject line. In professional situations,
I’m a big fan of action-oriented subject lines, such as "Networking Request
from a Young Alum," or "Internship Application Attached." If a professional
receives an email from someone she doesn’t know and there is no subject
line, she’s likely to delete it.
5. Do not become the boy or girl who cried, "Urgent." Use the red
high-importance exclamation point sparingly. Sending in your résumé or
asking for an informational interview is not urgent to the person receiving
such an email.
6. Do a quick once-over of important messages, even after you’ve
spell-checked. Review the spelling of the recipient’s name, the accuracy of
any important numbers you’ve mentioned, and the overall tone of the message.
(Your dry sarcasm may come across as rudeness to a busy person reading your
message.)
Apply these tips and your emails should zoom to the top of an employer's
inbox. Good luck!
Article courtesy of Recruiting Blogswap a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry level jobs and other career opportunities.
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