A professional e-mail address is defined as one that, in its entirety, represents and reflects the professional interests of the user or owner of the e-mail address itself. A professional e-mail address forms a constituent part of how individuals or organizations actively market their products, services, skills, or professional objectives. A professional e-mail address also therefore communicates factual, useful, and meaningful information about the owner or user of the address.
Setup Your Email to Look Professional
Taking a little time to think about how your email looks from the standpoint of the recipient can go a long ways toward presenting a professional image. Here are several things you should check to make sure, that when you send an email, it conveys the image you want.
1. Setting Up Your Name to Show up Instead of Your Address – When you send an email, it should show your name in the “from” field. Sometimes people have it set to just show their email address. The worst setup is when it shows something like “NA.”
This is an example of how your emails should not look to someone else:
This is an example of how your emails should not look to someone else:
This is an example of how the” to” field should appear when someone receives your message:
2. Include Your Full Name – Some people like to use just their first name, but when the person receiving your message is scanning a list and sees “Tom,” it may be difficult for them to know which “Tom” the message is from.
3. Don’t Use a Nickname – I get emails from SmoothGeek and similar names. It is frustrating to try to figure out who the person really is. There might be a reason to use a nickname if you are concerned about privacy, but be prepared for people not to take you seriously because there doesn’t seem to be a real person standing behind the email.
4. Avoid Complicated Formatting – Keep in mind that the email that looks really nicely formatted on your email client may get butchered by your recipient’s.
5. Use Something Professional for the Username – EvilGoddess@gmail.commight have seemed like a good idea at the time. It might be great for your friends who get the joke, but someone who doesn’t know you may not draw the same conclusions. Here are some ideas to help get you started:
6. Use Templates for Email - If you find yourself sending similar emails, you should probably invest in a template program. Instead of starting each email from scratch a template will let you create a reply and automatically fill in certain fields (recipient name, etc.). You can then customize the message, but it is a lot easier to avoid mistakes if you aren’t starting from scratch each time. For example, I use this when people unsubscribe from the Email RSS feed. It grabs their email address from the notification messages and pre-populates an email with a message thanking them for trying the email list. While it would only take a few moments to write the email myself, the template helps make sure I don’t make a silly mistake and it is fast enough that I don’t put the task off for later.
7. Avoid Long Signatures – Two to four lines should be more than enough. Resist the urge to include several paragraphs or your biography. Include a link. If someone wants to know more, they can follow it without cluttering up your messages. If you do go with a longer signature, don’t include it on your replies. Let people see it once, but don’t keep throwing it in their faces for the rest of the exchange.
Make Sure ‘Professional’ Email Address Doesn’t Negatively Brand You
Could it possibly be that something as common place and mundane, as the contact email address you include on official job-hunting correspondence, result in your personal brand being cast in a very negative light? You bet it can! Every single element, no matter how large or small, or apparently insignificant, of your personal branding “package” can have both a positive and a negative effect on how potential hiring managers, human resources professionals and “headhunters” perceive you as a potential job candidate. And that, of course, definitely includes the contact email address you use in any official correspondence during a job search.
Put yourself in a hiring manager’s, human resources professionals, or a “headhunter’s” place for just a moment. What immediate image would you likely have of an applicant who used a contact email address like any of the following on his/her résumé, cover letter, online application, etc.? (For the record, these examples are not “made up.” Over the years I have actually seen candidates use these specific contact email addresses, plus some even far more outrageous and professionally inappropriate!)
Would it be fair to say that you would at least have some . . . er . . . “reservations” about the level of professionalism possessed by such applicants/candidates? Of course it would! Yet, I (and hiring managers and HR professionals) see these kinds of email addresses used on official job-seeking correspondence and documents virtually all the time. Amazing, and so self-defeating for applicants/candidates who might actually possess excellent credentials and sought-after skill sets.
Your email address can get you eliminated
Rather than receiving at least a cursory initial review of their correspondence and/or job-seeking documents, these candidates risk being quickly ELIMINATED from further consideration. Why? Hiring managers and HR professionals—and, yes, “headhunters” like me!—simply don’t have the time (or at least won’t take the time, usually) to look beyond this email faux pas. There are just too many candidates to screen to go the extra step. Right or wrong, our thinking usually is: If the candidate/applicant is this careless (or clueless) about this detail, what other negatives will we find upon closer examination?
The point is, why even risk being negatively branded by such an easily avoidable misstep?
The best advice can offer is to stick to the tried and true. That is, I recommend that all of our candidates create a professional contact email address that consists of their first names, followed by a dot, and then their last names, plus of course the domain at which they have registered their email address.
For example, here is my business email address:
Similarly, your professional email address could become:
Some tips to create professional e-mail id
There are a few things that are part and parcel of the resume and your email address is one of them. But there are a few points that you have to keep in mind before typing your email address in the resume. In this recession period when situations are few and far between you cannot afford a single glitch in your resume.
1. Your email has to be a very professional one. It should not turn your future employer off. Many recruiters prefer a normal email like roger.freedman@gmail.com. This is sufficient enough to get the notice of the recruiter.
2. Please avoid so-called ‘funny’ email addresses like iamtheboss@gmail.com, because though they may look funny to you they might appear irritating to the employer.
3. It is believed that your email address too is a reflection of your personality. A too funny email may appear like an announcement that undermines your serious and professional nature. So, keep your email simple, and businesslike.
4. If you are feeling tempted to keep a funky personal email address then you can go ahead but make sure that you have a separate one as well to add in the resume. This will help you keep your personal and professional identities separate.
5. A businesslike email at the top of the resume also helps the employer know that you have the common sense of keeping your personal beliefs separate from your business demands.
6. It is your image that will create the first impression so, try to appear a responsible and levelheaded person through your resume, and your resume can help you a lot in this regard. Do not forget that this is the time of downsizing.
7. It is better to keep the personal email id for your friends and families and find a different id that would go with the professional look of the resume. Make sure that typed at the top of the resume your email id is not looking out of place.
8. If you are feeling confused and do not know how to create a professional email id the n you can ask your friends to help you out. There are also some professional sites available on the Internet that can help you create a business email.
9. Recruiters also dislike ambiguous email addresses. That is why do not make your email id a combination of fun and professionalism.
10. Remember employers these days are paying even more attention to the resumes. Due to the recession period they want to hire the best but after enough checking. Any silly mistake in your resume may spell doom to your chances to get the job.
To determine whether an e-mail address is professional, ambiguous, or unprofessional, both parts of the address, i.e. the local element before the ‘@’ sign and the domain name that follows have to be considered. Furthermore both elements have to be judged singularly and jointly to determine whose interests the e-mail address best represents.
To clarify further it is worth looking at examples and classifying them accordingly. For the purpose of examination the examples are based on the premise that the owner is using the e-mail address in a professional context.
Examples and classificationjohn.doe@companyABC.com
Context: John Doe has a professional relationship with the domain name owner.
In this example the local element before the ‘@’ sign adopts a conventional, informative and factual format, and the domain name represents and promotes the interests of an entity that John Doe has a professional relationship with (namely companyABC).
Class: Professional.
Examples and classificationjohn.doe@companyABC.com
Context: John Doe has a professional relationship with the domain name owner.
In this example the local element before the ‘@’ sign adopts a conventional, informative and factual format, and the domain name represents and promotes the interests of an entity that John Doe has a professional relationship with (namely companyABC).
Class: Professional.
companyABC@yahoo.com
Context: companyABC and yahoo.com have no professional relationship.
In this example the elements before and after the ‘@’ sign adopt a conventional, informative and factual format. Use of this e-mail address virally markets the name of companyABC, however it also endorses the services of the webmail service / domain owner. CompanyABC is using an address that in its’ entirety, does not represent or promote its professional interests. Given the relative ease of acquiring a professional domain name, and the fact that companyABC is claiming an Internet presence, use of this email address is not considered professional.
Class: Ambiguous / unprofessional. jane.doe@gmail.com
Context: jane.doe and gmail.com have no professional relationship.
As with the previous example this address acts to serve the interests of the domain owner / service provider. Whilst jane.doe has elected to use a standard format for the local element before the ‘@’ sign, the overall e-mail address does not actively market or promote her professional interests.
Class: Unprofessional.
Conclusion
In order for an e-mail address to be classified as professional, ambiguous, or unprofessional, it needs to be considered in context, format, and in terms of factual and informative content. The local and domain name elements of the address need to be considered in their relationship to each other and the intended audience of the e-mail address needs to be understood.
I hope the time spent so far is useful.
