Are you looking for a job?
Whether you are looking for a full time/part time job through a job portal, agency or your network of friends, chances are that you will be required to write an email to the prospective employer.
While you spend countless hours on perfecting your resume, the first thing the hiring manager reads is the email which your resume is sent in. First impression is the lasting impression, remember?
A well written and formatted email leaves a positive impression in the mind of the recruiter and he is more receptive to your resume even before opening the email attachment.
An email which is ill formatted, scattered and/or has too much/too little information could leave an impression of you being careless and scattered about your work as well.
Here are some email etiquette and guidelines that you can follow when writing emails to prospective employers.
FORMATTING
Fonts and Background
- Use simple and clear fonts (for instance Times New Roman, Arial, Verdana or Calibri), black colour, 10-12 font size, depending on which font you use.
- Use plain white background; patterned backgrounds and colourful fonts look unprofessional.
- Never write in all CAPS.
Grammar and Spelling
- Avoid using SMS/WhatsApp language (such as “u” instead of “you”) and emoticons in your emails. Instant messaging style does not reflect well on professional emails.
- Pay attention to grammar, spellings and formatting in your email. Run a spelling and grammar check once you are done writing the email. Also don’t just rely on the spell check function and proof read your email before you send it out.
- Don’t mark all your emails as high priority as ultimately, the hiring manager may start discounting the importance of your emails altogether.
Email Signature
It is a good practice to have a proper email signature at the end of every email so it’s easy for people to get in touch with you. It would be tedious to look for your contact information on your resume or elsewhere and good if you can “spoon-feed” the manager and make it easy for them to get in touch with you. Your email signature could look like this:
Best Regards
First Name Last name
Contact phone no
Email address
CONTENT
Subject Line:
Every email must have a proper subject line, preferably that makes sense for the recipient. So if the subject of your email for a job at Google is “Google”, it would not really be meaningful for the recipient. Some suggested subject tags are:
- If you are applying for a job from a job portal, then ensure you mention the title and serial number of the job posting in your subject. “Application for Marketing Associate: Ref No. JFSG289503N”
- If you received the contact information from a friend (Mr. Adam Choo) who works at that company, then you could make the subject more personal, such as “Application for Marketing Associate, Ref: Adam Choo”
- On the other hand, if you are writing a follow up email after an interview, then the subject line could be: “ Our Meeting on June 23rd, 2015”
A blank subject line is not acceptable, and may result in your email being ignored.
Body of your email
- Include a proper salutation for the person you are writing to. Ensure that you have addressed them correctly and got the spelling of their name right.
- Start by saying why you are writing – applying for a particular position, enquiring about an opening or following up after an interview ( thank the person for taking the time to meet/speak to you)
- For a job opening - mention how you got to know about the job (for instance from a job portal, through a common contact, met at a career fair/networking event, etc).
- Give a brief introduction about yourself so the employer develops an interest in looking at your resume. You must try to highlight how your abilities and experience matched with the requirements mentioned in the job profile. Highlighting your past achievements also helps to prove your ability to perform well on the advertised job.
- Show your keenness to follow-up with statements like “I look forward to hearing from you”. If you are looking to set up a meeting, you could suggest a time like “Would it possible to meet at your office on coming Wednesday (26th March) post lunch?” This way, the prospective employer is more likely to respond with an alternate time than declining your offer for a meeting altogether.
BEST PRACTICE
Email Address
Have a proper display name for your professional email address. That’s what the recipient sees in his inbox. If required, create a separate email address for job applications which has your proper name on it.eg simon.tan@gmail.com. It would not reflect well to have an email address which reads as funsimon@gmail.com
Attachments
While most popular email providers detect the word attachment in your email and remind you to attach your resume/cover letter etc., do remember to attach these documents as you write the words on your email. Many people complete writing the email first and then attach the documents. Although this is efficient, you don’t want to risk sending an email with no attachments on it.
Also, ensure that your attachments are named properly. Especially so, when you have multiple attachments on your email, it makes it easier for the reader to open the attachment which he deems important first.
Sending the email
Finally: Please RE-READ your email BEFORE pressing the SEND button.
A good way to ensure that you never accidentally send an unedited email is to enter the recipient’s email address only after completing the email, attaching the required files, and re-reading the content. Even, when you are replying to an email, delete the recipient’s email address and add it later after you have drafted the proper response.
Good luck with your job hunt !