Job Hunting 101: How to Write an Email and Get Your Resume Read

Have you ever received an email that you couldn’t read? I mean you really couldn’t understand what the person was trying to say? Or did you receive an email but did not open it because the senders name was offensive and you know that no one you know would have an email address that sounded like they were the next up and coming porn star? It is that time of year again when high school and college graduates will be updating their resumes and emailing them to hiring managers. My tips below will ensure that your resume does not get deleted before it is even opened.
Five Tips for Email Success

1. Professional Email Address – now is not the time to have a sexy, silly, or vulgar email address. If you are job hunting I recommend you keep your email address your name. When you are job hunting unless you are porn star drop the sexy email names. No one wants to call looking for “2sexy4u”. It is also easier for the hiring manager to scroll through his or her email account and recognize your email after he or she has networked with you on LinkedIn than to have to open various emails to try and find your resume. If he or she cannot easily find your email he or she may not even bother to look for it.

2. Spelling and Grammar – use proper English when writing your emails. Now is the time to show off your writing skills. Also make sure you spell words correctly. Do not try and appear creative by spelling words wrong. You want the prospective employer to know you did graduate from high school or college. Do not – I repeat do not - write an email using the spelling short cut you use when typing a text message to your friends. I have heard from several employers that they have returned the emails asking the person to speak English. When they get the email returned again in the same text message style format they delete the email and do not look at the resume. Do not let this happen to you.

3. Sentence structure – use proper sentence structure when typing an email. This means you capitalize the first letter of a sentence and you end a sentence with a punctuation mark. You do not want to have run on sentences or fragmented sentences. Remember, this may be your only attempt to show off that you are the right person for the job. You will also want to keep your font crisp and clear. Ensure it is large enough to be read by the reader. This is not the time to use cursive or spooky font. It is recommended that you use black ink for the color of your font. Again, now is not the time to be cutesy or show off your creative streak.

4. Signature block – use your signature block to highlight your expertise. Use an appropriate salutation followed by your name and degree conferred. Below the signature block list your phone number so that t he reader can contact you. If you use social media it is permissible to use the social media icons under your signature. This will direct the reader to learn more about you. If you have a website or blog also list the urls in your signature block.

5. Tag line – an email tagline gives the reader an opportunity to learn more about you. If you are job hunting it can be an abbreviated professional summary. Your last sentence should direct the reader to learn more about you at your LinkedIn profile, website or blog.

When you use my five tips for email success you increase your chances of getting your email read and the resume you attached opened. Do not miss out on getting your dream job because your email was not even opened.