NETIQUETTE, TECHNETIQUETTE, & E-MANNERS
IN THE JOB SEARCH
Tailor Your Product To The Recipient
Avoid mass mailing, also known as “blasting,” your job applications. Personalized messages are much more effective. Many career counselors and coaches advise their clients to customize each cover letter and resume to the particular job, company, or industry. Mass e-mails may get rejected by Spam filters. If you are identified as a spammer, the recipient may “blacklist” you (and your company if you’re working on an office computer!), effectively blocking all messages from you (and, possibly, your company).
Mail merge often does not translate well from Microsoft Outlook into Outlook Express. When the recipient receives a message beginning “Dear ,” they are going to know they have been mass mailed!
Be sure that your own virus protection software is up-to-date and active. If you are attaching your resume to an e-mail, scan it for viruses before you send it.
Follow Directions
Make sure you follow the application directions. Not following the directions makes you look stupid or careless which is definitely not the image you are trying to project!
If the job advertisement specifies that applicants should not send their resumes as e-mail attachments, then don’t do it. It’s a good idea to avoid attachments in general as some companies and individuals block all e-mails with attachments in order to avoid viruses. Many people delete e-mails with attachments if they do not know the sender.
If you do attach your resume to an e-mail, ensure that the recipient will be able to read it by asking what format you should use before you send it – in MSWord or as a PDF file, for instance. Never attach your resume as a compressed file (e.g., zip) unless instructed to do so by the employer.
Check the company website. There are often very explicit instructions to follow on their “Career” pages. In fact, many companies will direct you to their website as the only place to submit an application.
Employers find receiving applications from job seekers who are clearly not qualified for the job time consuming and a waste, so read the qualifications section of the job advertisement very carefully.
Chose Your Tools Wisely
It is best to use a personal e-mail address and to access it from a computer outside your workplace. If you send your e-mails to a prospective employer from your office e-mail address, the prospective employer is going to know that you are taking your current employer’s time to apply for other jobs. If your current employer monitors company e-mails, he may worry that you are leaking company secrets and other proprietary information to his competitor. In any event, it is wise to keep your personal e-mail address book and job search documents on your home computer where you can access them no matter who you are working for.
Subject Line
The subject line of the e-mail may determine whether the message is opened and read, forgotten and left to whither in the recipient’s in box, or simply deleted. Never leave the subject line blank.
The subject line should be short – 4 to 6 words, less than 35 characters. Ii should include more than just the job title or just the job number or just your name. It should be pertinent, honest, and professionally worded, but still attract the attention of the recipient. “Resume” may not be opened immediately by a nonprofit specializing in international development, but “Experienced Micro-enterprise Project Manager” might be.
Avoid using symbols and punctuation in the subject line, especially exclamation points which could trigger a Spam blocker. Other Spam triggers in the subject line include words like “free,” “great offer,” “important,” or “information” – i.e., words that are frequently used in the subject lines of actual Spam messages. A lot of numbers in the subject line may also trigger a Spam blocker.
Your E-Mail Address
Your e-mail address should be simple, professional, and easily recognized as yours. It is helpful to the recipient if your e-mail address includes your surname. For instance, HolmesS@bakerstreet.com is a much better choice than pipesmoker@bakerstreet.com. If your home e-mail address is too informal and your service provider only allows you one address, then get a free Hot Mail or Yahoo account with a more appropriate address.
Also note that a lot of numbers in your e-mail address may trigger a Spam blocker. For instance, HolmesS54@bakerstreet.com would be a better choice than HolmesS1854@bakerstreet.com.
Addressing Your E-Mail
Have you ever pressed “Send” accidentally before your message was completely written or ready? To avoid that slip, draft your message first, then fill in the recipients’ addresses. Trying to recall a message sent by mistake makes you look careless.
Be careful about hitting the “Reply to All” button. Also, check the “To,” “CC,” and “BCC” lines to make sure you know who you are replying to when you push the “Reply” button. You may want to copy (CC) others involved as a professional courtesy and to keep them in the loop. For instance, when sending a message to a hiring manager, you could copy the company recruiter who pre-screened you. Another example would be to copy the person who referred you when writing to introduce yourself to a hiring manager.
If you are sending an e-mail to many recipients who do not know each other (hopefully, this would not be a job search message), then it may be best to use your own address for the “To” line and “BCC” for the recipients addresses for several reasons. First, if a recipient prints out your message, it won’t take several pages of paper to print the “To” section. Second, it’s a matter of privacy. Most people do not want their private e-mail address to be publicized to lots of people they don’t know.
Always labeling your messages as “urgent” can annoy recipients, so use that feature judiciously.
Some career counselors and coaches recommend that you do not attach a “RR” or “Return Receipt” feature to your e-mails, as certain types of RR features can be perceived by recipients as irritating or intrusive.
Technical Aspects of Formatting the Message
Make sure that your e-mail messages – whether they include cover letters and resumes or not -- are neatly formatted. We recommend that you e-mail it to another address (to another account of your own or to a friend or family member) just to see how it comes out on the other end. Many recipients can only receive your beautifully crafted resume in “plain text” format that can significantly affect the appearance of your document.
It is best to use “plain text” or “ASCII” text in your e-mails – simply select “Format” and choose “plain” (not “rich”) text. Another good reason to use “plain text” is that it takes up less space or kilobytes. Space can be very important to a recruiter who receives several hundred e-mails a day.
Whether you use “plain” or “rich” text, always use black font on a white background in normal e-mail size (10) and font style (Arial, Helvetica, Times Roman). Indentations and tabs rarely come out nicely on the recipient’s end of the message. Justify everything to the left, avoiding the centering feature and tabbed columns. Avoid underlining, bolding, and bulleting. You can still create bullets with lower-case o’s, plus signs, dashes, or asterisks. Avoid colors and graphics. Bright or dark backgrounds with colorful fonts in the text of your message may also trigger Spam blockers. Backgrounds and graphics can also require the recipient to change it to “plain text” in order to respond.
Your lines should be no longer than 60 characters. Your recipient may not have a “word wrap” feature and receive your 150 skillfully crafted words on 150 hard-to-read lines.
Leave blank lines between paragraphs. (FYI: in some e-mail software, you can set your own “word wrap” limits.)
Use “white space” in your e-mail to make it easier to read.
Style, Content, & Formatting
The internet is a public place. Never assume your e-mail messages are private. Don’t include anything in your messages that couldn’t be read by everyone, including your mama, or broadcast on “60 Minutes.”
Any written communications regarding your job search should be considered formal business correspondence, even if it is e-mail. Even though it’s e-mail, maintain formality with people you don’t know well. If the employer is informal, don’t assume that you should be, too.
Capitalizing words in the body of an e-mail is called “shouting” and is generally inappropriate in a business communication except to highlight a title or heading. Although the use of acronyms is very common in e-mails, too many of them can annoy your reader. Some of the most frequently used are FYI = for your information and BTW = by the way.
Always include a salutation (Dear Mr. Holmes:) and a closing (Sincerely, Dr. Watson). Include your “signature” at the bottom of your e-mail message. This signature usually includes your full name and your e-mail address. It may also include your mailing address and telephone and fax numbers, but don’t exceed 4 to 6 lines. An example would be:
Sherlock Holmes
Detective
Telephone: xxx-xxx-xxxx
E-mail: Holmes@bakerstreet.com
Proof read your message before pressing “Send” and use “Spell Check” if that is available to you. You may even want to compose the message in word processing, then copy and paste it into an e-mail. And don’t just use “Spell Check!!” Read it carefully several times for mistakes like “there” instead of “their” which will not be caught by “Spell Check.”
Another reason to read your e-mail several times before sending is to make sure that the tone of your message is respectful and friendly, not curt and presumptuous. The tone of a formal written message is very important. The recipient cannot see the smile or frown on your face. Be careful when using humor and sarcasm as they may be received differently by e-mail than in person. Do not use “emoticons” (e.g., :) for happy or :( for sad) in business correspondence. Don’t send any angry or strongly worded messages right away. Sleep on it and reconsider the next day. This is good advice any time, but especially while job seeking!
Even when e-mailed, a resume should be accompanied by a personalized cover letter. In the cover letter you need to state what job you are applying for. You don’t want the recipient to have to scroll down screen after screen to read your cover letter but you do want to sell yourself.
Snail Mail Back-Ups
Follow up your most important communications with an employer with a hard copy version via regular mail. You never know when an e-mail gets lost in cyberspace.
Always send your cover letter and resume by e-mail and snail mail. The hard copy of a cover letter and resume can look a lot more elegant than your e-mailed version. And it jogs the employer’s memory and gives him something to pass around to other colleagues involved in selection.
Some applicants now send a scannable version of their resume with the snail mail version so the recipient can add it to their company’s electronic database.
Responding By E-Mail
Before replying to an e-mail message, make sure that you are the addressee and not the CC recipient. Respond promptly – usually within 2 days.
“Quoting” happens when you receive an e-mail and your response includes that original e-mail in it. This is also referred to as the message “thread.” To avoid “quoting” you would start a new e-mail to respond. It is usually a good idea to “quote” as it will remind the recipient of your previous discussions. Many e-mail programs have the “quoting” turned off as a default setting. In order to change it in Outlook Express, go to “Options,” select the “Send” tab, then check the box that says “Include message in reply.”
When They Don’t Write, They Don’t Call…
Be very frugal with your follow-up messages. Recruiters and employers can receive hundreds of applications every day. Check the application instructions. Many state that the employer will only respond to candidates who are called for interviews. Don’t demand a response, simply remind the employer that you are still very interested and highlight one or two of your qualifications. Most career counselors and coaches recommend that you limit your follow-up communications to once every month or 6 weeks.
In Summary
The main message you should take away from this article is that job search communication over the internet is business communication and represents you. Make sure that the image you project into cyberspace is the image you want a potential employer to receive. Be courteous and be careful.
12-27-10
This article is a bit dated in places - I don't agree with snail mailing your resume - but all in all this is a very informative and solid article and presents some very relevant opinions about e-mail etiquette. I hope you find it helpful in your job search.
Julia Miller, CSP
Account Manager
Excel Personnell
