You wouldn’t go on a job interview dressed in your old jeans and T-shirt. You wouldn’t greet your interviewer by saying Hi, there and then falling carelessly in the closest chair. No. You want to impress the person interviewing you, so you dress professionally. You greet them formally, using their name and shaking hands. You sit upright in your chair, doing your best to appear qualified for the job.
In today’s high-tech world, resumes, cover letters, and job applications are increasingly sent by e-mail. There's a good chance that the first impression you make with a recruiter or hiring manager is your words and their appearance on a computer screen. If your words and how you use them make a poor impact on your reader, your chances for serious consideration immediately weaken.
Before you click on Send, make sure your message will create the impression you intend.
1. Consider your audience.
It’s very important to always keep your audience in mind as you prepare your message. Consider their cultural background, their language proficiencies, their role in your job search, and adapt your message accordingly.
2. Stick with the basics.
Choose a standard font. Times New Roman, Arial or Verdana, in the 10- to 12- point range is generally safe. These fonts, along with spacing between paragraphs make your message easy to read. It's a good idea to use bullet points to highlight information you want to stand out.
In plain, well-punctuated English, please.
Forget to use uppercase letters and punctuation in an e-mail to a potential employer and your email is likely to make a quick trip to the rejects folder.
Remember all that grammar and punctuation you learned? Use it. Use complete sentences. Capitalize sentence beginnings and proper nouns. Don’t use acronyms or abbreviations unless they are industry-standard terms that were used in the job description. Even then, think twice before you use an abbreviation or acronym. The personnel department or third-party recruiter may not be as familiar with the acronyms as the hiring manager.
If there's a good chance that English is a second language for your intended reader prepare your message accordingly. Use short sentences and don’t try to impress with big words. Stick to commonly used words; stay away from idioms.
Professional to professional.
Keep in mind that you’re a professional asking another professional to review your qualifications for a particular job. It’s probably best to get rid of e-mail background stationery or wallpaper. Make sure your e-mail address is professional (hotstuff@yournetwork.net is probably not going to leave a good impression). If you’re serious about your job search, make sure all your contact phone numbers have appropriate answering messages.
Everybody’s a star . . .
We all like to see our name in print. So will the recruiter or hiring manager reading your email. In fact, that will catch their attention right up front. Do your best to find out the name of the person who will be reading your e-mail. Sometimes a search of the company’s or recruiter’s web site will reveal a name; sometimes a phone call will get you the information you need. Make sure you find out how to spell the name.
If you’re sending your email to a Japanese man, you might want to add the title –san to the last name. That is the equivalent of Mr. in English and it will catch your reader’s attention. Just Honda-san, e.g., not Mr. Honda-san.
If you can’t find a name, please don’t revert to the old-fashioned To Whom It May Concern. Dear Hiring Manager or Dear Search Consultant will do if you can’t find the recipient’s name.
If your email is a cover letter . . .
If your e-mail is a cover letter to a resume, customize it. Your reader will be much more apt to read further if you point out how your skills match a portion of the job description or how your experience makes you a good candidate for the position. They will know and appreciate that you’ve analyzed the job description and thought about how you fit the position instead of firing off a standard message.
Be brief, get your point across quickly and concisely. As a general rule of thumb, you won’t want more than three paragraphs in your email cover letter.
If you attach a cover letter and resume . . .
There don’t seem to be any hard and fast rules about whether a cover letter should be attached to an email along with the resume or whether the email should be the cover letter. Keep in mind, though, the fewer clicks required to get your reader to your resume, the better. If you decide to send an email with a cover letter and resume attached, you’d better make sure that initial email catches the reader’s attention and makes them want to look further.
Last, but not least . . . the subject
If you’re applying for a position you know is open, use the job title in the subject line. Add words like qualified, experienced or professional along with a word or words that describe your current position or experience. For example, if you’ve been been successful making changes in your quality engineer position and want to be considered for a quality management position, you might use Proven Champion for Change applying for Quality Manager position. If the recruiter or company wants to fill the Quality Manager opening, your email will be read.
Also, make sure you highlight any unusual high demand skills your potential employer might need. For example: You have high-level bilingual skills in Japanese and English. You know the company or recruiter frequently advertises jobs that require bilinguals. In this case, make sure you use the word bilingual in the subject line. The subject line above could become Bilingual Champion for Change applying for Quality Manager position.
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