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Your #Career : These Nine Email Mistakes Could Cost You The Job…As a #JobHunter, every Interaction you Have with a Prospective Employer is a Chance to Make a Good–or Bad–Impression.

When you’re job hunting, you’re on high alert for every mistake you can possibly make: you run your resume by every friend you have, carefully craft a cover letter, scrutinize every detail you put into the job application and spend hours preparing for your interview.

But did you ever stop to think that you could make it all the way to a final interview only to lose the job offer due to something as small as an email?

Jennie Ellis, founder and CEO of Recruiting Bandwidth, wants job hunters to understand that every interaction they have with a prospective employer reflects on them, and that goes for the highly visible parts of a job hunt (like a resume, cover letter, application, and interview) and the behind-the-scenes communication that goes on in an email inbox.

If you want to make sure you’re presenting yourself professionally at all times, make sure you’re not making these nine common email mistakes:

1. WRITING MISLEADING EMAIL SUBJECTS

The way you communicate should express respect, and that starts with being accurate and honest. Make sure you’re using email subjects that convey exactly what you mean, not clickbait email headlines that encourage the reader to open but leave them disappointed in the content.

“I don’t appreciate an intrusive, alarmist approach,” explains Ellis. “For example, in email a subject stating someone has an urgent need to speak to me, but when I open it, it’s just a solicitation [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][for] a job. Simply be transparent–include the position title in the subject, or if you were referred by someone who knows the recipient, state that.”

2. USING THE WRONG NAME OR TITLE

In the internet age, addressing an email “To whom it may concern” or an incorrect name often shows a lack of initiative–more often than not, that information is available online. Furthermore, out-of-touch salutations can be a clue for recruiters and hiring managers that you may not fit in with the culture.

“For example, [some] women don’t typically like being addressed as Ms. or Mrs. in email,” says Ellis. “If someone did this to me I would think they were old school and [did] not get our informal tech culture.”


Related:The Emotionally Intelligent Way To Cold-Email People (If You Must) 


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3. NOT GETTING TO THE POINT

One danger of communicating with prospective employers by email is that you have plenty of time to linger on your draft until it expands into a mini-treatise on why you should be hired. Skip the long correspondence and try to keep your emails to 3-5 sentences or less.

“Long, rambling emails when I didn’t ask for one in the first place assumes that I have nothing better to do than listen to a candidate go on about themselves,” explains Ellis. “Instead, think about what is the most important thing you need to convey and be clear and concise about it.”

4. CUTTING CORNERS ON LANGUAGE

You don’t want to treat an email like a 10-page term paper, but you also don’t want to treat it like a text to your best friend. No matter how informal a company culture, you’ll always need to write with full words, full sentences and good grammar and spelling.

“I cannot stand it when people use text acronyms in email messages in something that should be as formal as a cover letter,” says Ellis. “It shows an immaturity and disrespect for a job seeker to be that informal to someone they don’t know.”


Related:These Five Expressions Make Your All Your Emails Sound Whiny


5. BEING TOO PERSONAL

Using email to build a strong relationship with a recruiter or hiring manager is not the same thing as assuming you have a personal relationship right from the start. Strive to keep your tone warm, but not too intimate.

“Avoid anything that sounds too personal,” says Ellis. “Even ‘Very best regards’ could be construed as too personal. After all, why would someone give me their very best regards if they don’t even know me? For all they know, I could be a total jerk, so that feels inauthentic.”

6. NOT CUSTOMIZING YOUR NOTE

Recruiters get it–you may be a very busy, in-demand candidate trying to coordinate interviews and follow-up materials with several companies at a time. But that’s no excuse to send everyone the same content.

“Sending vague emails that are clearly part of a massive blind copy blast is a big mistake,” says Ellis. “Many recruiters are screening your emails to see if you pay attention to details, and getting obviously copy-and-paste responses without any personal details is a big red flag.”


Related:These Common Email Mistakes Are Ruining Your Credibility


7. BEING TOO EXPERIMENTAL

There’s a time and place for experimenting with the way you work, but it’s not in the way you communicate with a recruiter or hiring manager. The only thing that should stand out about you in the interview process is the quality and efficiency of your work.

“Recruiters read email for the content, not for the creative expression through color and format,” explains Ellis. “Style choices like offbeat formatting and colored or oddly large font does not give off the most professional vibe, and smiley faces and lack of paragraph breaks just send a confusing message.”

8. USING AN UNPROFESSIONAL EMAIL ADDRESS

Your email address should be some combination of your first name, initials and last name. Anything else should be reserved exclusively for personal use.

“Using an inappropriate personal email address to apply for jobs is really unprofessional and it may affect whether or not the hiring manager takes you seriously,” says Ellis. “For example, I once had an email from ‘stoner54@’ come through the ATS once, and I thought it was a joke!”


Related:This Is How To Write A Followup Email That’s Not Annoying 


9. FOLLOWING UP TOO AGGRESSIVELY

In a competitive job market, there’s a lot of pressure to express your interest in a position. Unfortunately, this can lead a lot of candidates to be more aggressive than they should be, which runs the risk of turning off the hiring manager. You’re better off directing your energy to following directions for applying for a job and carefully reading all of the instructions you receive throughout the interview process–and nothing more.

“Emailing too often in the course of an interview process–especially if you’ve been told to expect a reply in a couple of days–can be very frustrating for a recruiter,” says Ellis. “Likewise, not responding in a timely manner to an email that necessitates a response from the potential employer can take you out of the running for a job.”


This article originally appeared on Glassdoor and is reprinted with permission. 

FastCompany.com | April 9th, 2018 | BY SARAH GREESONBACH—GLASSDOOR 5 MINUTE READ

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Your #Career : 9 #JobSeeker Email Etiquette Tips to Help You Land the Job…….. #JobHunting sure isn’t What it Used to Be. Just a Few Years Ago, “Pounding the Pavement” was a Literal Thing.

Job hunting sure isn’t what it used to be. Just a few years ago, “pounding the pavement” was a literal thing, and people were actually out on the streets, going from business to business to drop off their resumes. Today, most job applications do not take place in person. Everything is done online, and many people even apply for jobs via email. Just because you might not be applying for a job in person, though, doesn’t mean that you still don’t need to use proper etiquette to show that you are a professional.

Here are nine job seeker etiquette tips for applying for jobs via email.

1. Know Who to Send it To

When applying for a job via email, it is not enough to send it to “whom it may concern”. Whenever possible, try to find out the name and title of the contact person instead of sending an email to a general box. Make sure that you also send yourself a copy of each email that you send out. That way, you have a record of all of the jobs that you are applying for, and you aren’t going to end up doubling emails and annoying potential employers, which can easily backfire on you.

2. Always Use a Subject Line

Every job application email you send out needs to have a proper subject line. If you don’t put anything in the subject line, chances are that your email is going to end up in a spam mailbox. Your subject line should list the job that you are applying for, so the person who receives it knows exactly what job you want. You can also include your own name in the subject line to reinforce the fact that you are applying for the job, and not just sending an email on someone else’s behalf.

3. Use Business Email

Did you know that more than 60 percent of people do not use their personal email for anything that is business-related? According to Avatier, the majority of people tend to keep their business and personal email separate. So, when looking for a job, make sure that you are sending emails to business accounts, and that you have a separate email address for your employment search, as it looks more professional than just using your personal email.

4. Set Up Another Email

In addition to a business email account, it is a good idea to have a job search email account. Only use this email when you are applying for jobs. You can use it to keep track of the jobs that you have applied for, and be able to quickly and easily check messages from potential employers and other contacts. If you only use your business account for job searches, there is no need to have this additional email. In fact, it could end up becoming confusing if you are using two emails for your job search.

5. Use Proper Formatting

A job application email shouldn’t look like a typical email message. It should look like any cover letter you would send via snail mail. So, make sure that your job application emails are properly formatted. It should include a subject line, as mentioned above, and you need to edit, edit and edit some more to make sure that there are no spelling or grammatical errors. The last thing you want is to look uneducated or unprofessional because you don’t take the time to correct errors in your emails.

6. Treat It Like a Business Letter

Your email messages concerning job applications should look like a regular business letter. Do not use acronyms, emoticons or slang. These things are okay for emails to friends, but not when you are trying to present yourself as a professional. It should start off with a salutation, and end with a signature. The only thing you don’t need to add is employer contact information in the upper left-hand corner. Otherwise, it should be identical to a letter that you would send through the regular mail.

7. Your Signature Is Important

Even though you can’t actually sign your email with a pen, you still need to add your signature. In an email, your signature should include your first and last name (it doesn’t matter which you put first), your email address and your home and cell phone numbers. It should also include your LinkedIn profile. This is your opportunity to show the person doing the hiring what skills you bring to the table without sending a cover letter that is overly long. This isn’t strictly necessary, but it something that is becoming more and more common.

8. Be Careful with Content

How you word your job application email is very important. It is a good idea to have a cover letter already prepared and edited, so you can just copy and paste it into the body of the email message. If you don’t have one ready to go, simply write it in before sending the email. If you are asked to send your resume as an attachment, send it as a PDF file or a Word document.

9. Don’t Leave Out the Attachments

If you say in the email that you are sending an attachment, don’t forget to attach it. Sending a second email with the attachment is not going to look overly professional. These days, it is pretty difficult to forget the attachment, especially if you are using Gmail, since it will notify you if you don’t add it after specifying that there is one. The attachments are going to include the details about you, your resume, etc., so you need to make sure that they are properly attached and that the person doing the hiring will see them.

GlassDoor.com |  |