When you’re on the hunt for a new job you’ll be receiving a lot more emails and phone calls than you normally would. With so much of our communication being digital nowadays, people can form a first impression of you without ever seeing you or hearing your voice. One way that you can present a polished image is by using a professional email address.
How does a professional email address differ from an everyday email account? We’re glad you asked! A professional account uses your first and last name, and, if necessary, a few numbers.
What Your Email Should Look Like
An example of a basic professional email address would be: [email protected]
An unprofessional or everyday email would look like this: [email protected]
Can you spot the difference?
If you have a common name and your preferred email address is already taken, there are a few things you can do.
- Try changing domains. JessicaJones may be taken on Gmail, but might be free on Yahoo or Outlook.
- Add a number to your email address. JessicaJones1 and JessicaJones2018 are both great alternatives.
- Incorporate your middle name or initial. Try JessicaAJones, JessicaJonesA, or JessicaAnnaJones.
Pro Tip: Avoid using your birthday in your email address. Even though it’s illegal, age discrimination is real – don’t hand someone a reason to disqualify you as a candidate.
Fun Emails
Your everyday email can be something fun and meaningful to you, but your professional email needs to present a businesslike front.
In addition to putting a professional foot forward, having a generic email address makes communication easier for recruiters and anyone else you’re emailing. If a recruiter is searching through their emails for the last message you sent them, they’ll have a far easier time getting the results they’re looking for if their search of “Jessica Jones” matches your email address. If Jessica’s email was “[email protected],” and her email signature didn’t include her last name, the recruiter could have a hard time getting in touch with Jessica.
Another Account?
Creating an additional email account can seem like a pain, but there are plenty of reasons why it’s one of the best things you can do to help yourself when you’re job hunting.
Having a separate email for job-related communication can help keep your personal inbox clutter-free. It can also ensure that important emails and interview invitations don’t get lost in the shuffle. You don’t need to commit to your new, professional email address forever – simply use it when you’re in the job market, and forget about it when you’ve found a new position.
Branding
You spent a lot of time perfecting your resume. Don’t let an unprofessional email address stick out like a sore thumb and ruin all the work you did. Recruiters are humans, and they’re looking for ways to narrow their candidate pool down. While you might think it’s silly to disqualify someone for a personal email address, the recruiter may feel that your email choice points to poor judgment and an inability to present a professional front.
If you use social media in a professional capacity or have a LinkedIn profile, all of your links and usernames should be the same. Uniformity is not only aesthetically pleasing on a resume, but it also creates a simplified way to contact you. Your LinkedIn URL should match your email address, and your professional Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook handles should also be identical.
Communication Becomes Easier
Imagine this: You’re wrapping up an awesome phone interview and coordinating a time and date for an in-person meeting. The recruiter asks for your email address to send you a confirmation and you have to end your great conversation by spelling and re-spelling your personal email address, “[email protected].” …Yikes.
The peak-end rule theorizes that people judge an experience based largely on how they felt at the peak (its most intense point) and at the end. Even if your entire interview was wonderful, a frustrating ending (i.e. trying to confirm a long and complicated email address) can sour the recruiter’s impression of you.
Think about how simple it would be to wrap up your conversation and sharing your email by saying, “Sure, my email address is my first name, last name, at Gmail.com.” Now the recruiter will hang up the phone and continue to have a positive, lasting impression of you.
A professional email address may be just one tool in your job seeking toolkit, but it’s an important one! Once you’ve created your new account, check out our tips for creating a professional email signature. We also have step-by-step guides for setting up your signature in Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Outlook.
