Recently I was interested in connecting a member of a networking organization with a potential employer after reading an email that shared their experience and qualifications. The potential employer was a client who had just advised me the day before that they had made a decision to consider candidates for a new position within their organization. That’s how connections are made, right? And what does this have to do with an email address?
Professional, credible, qualified; certainly the basic impression you will want to share when managing a career. So how could I introduce a potential candidate with an email address such as, o2bgeorge@hotmail.com? Unfortunately an opportunity was lost because this email address says, outdated, lacks professionalism and in need of career advice. No formal name can be deciphered from this email to even consider a basic search, nor did “George” choose to provide a formal name at the end of the email. So for all the Georges out there, obviously an alias for this post, I’d like to offer a few suggestions to ensure your email says what it should about you, especially when you are in career transition.
- Use your proper name, first and last
- Do not use slang or slogans
- Try to avoid numbers, dots, dashes and underscores if possible
- Do not use fisherperson@, partyanimal@ or fitnessnerd@
- Hotmail and AOL are severely outdated
- Establish a new email address such as Gmail or Rogers
Choose a professional email address and include a proper signature when emailing information. It shouldn’t be a difficult task for someone to match up your email address with your name. What does your email address say about you?
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