What Does Your Email Address Communicate?

One of the most fundamental things you’re going to do when looking for work is create an email address.

One day in the future the email address will become antiquated and out of fashion; replaced by something more effective. Today however, it’s still highly used by many employers as a way to receive applications and communicate with applicants. Many online applications and websites demand you have one to apply for jobs and without one, you can’t.

So with respect to your email, what does yours say about you? Consider that this is going to appear at the top of your résumé; it’s going to be on a cover letter, and it’s certainly going to be what someone in the organization you hope to work for clicks on or manually enters digit by digit when they contact you. So are they going to think about what it is and what it says to them? You’d best believe it.

One of the worst things you can do is choose to use an email that has your age in it; be it your age when you created it or the year of your birth. Yet time and time again when I’m asked to give my opinion on someone’s resume, there it is. I’ll often ask someone if they think it’s a good idea to put their age on a résumé and typically the answer most of the time is a confident, “no”. I’ll reply then, “So why did you tell them you’re 47? This usually startles the person and they ask me, “Where did I put that?” and I’ll point out their email which says, “billsmith47@…”

Also a poor idea is to include a number which could be your birthday or age even though it isn’t. Anyone reading it won’t know what that number means to you but they’ll certainly be entitled to make that assumption. So 47 might be Bill’s house number or he was born on the 7th of April, but that’s not what most people are going to infer.

Very common too are the emails suggested by the computer software when you try to use an email already claimed by another person. You’ve seen I’m sure the ones where some random numbers follow some combination of your name or what you were trying to use. Why anyone would choose to allow a random email generating program to choose their personal email is beyond me. Well, that’s not true really; I know people use them out of frustration, or they simply don’t know better. Still, this is a bad choice my friend.

Finally, stay away – please! – from the cute or sexy email names. Do you want to be thought of as juvenile, over sexed, or just plain inappropriate? My all-time favourite for ridiculous was someone with the email that began, “fluffybunnykins@…” Fluffy bunnykins? That apparently was the email created for a woman by her mom when the woman was 12 years old. While cute, it didn’t fit the professional image this grown woman was going for. In the same vein, avoid things like, “sexyxoxo@”, spankme@”, “loveme69@”. I didn’t invent these, and they’re taken already. Sometimes I just shake my head.

Alright already, enough with what NOT to do! Let’s move on to one of two different strategies that I would recommend.

The first strategy is good if you know exactly what it is your after job or career-wise. I’ll use myself here as an example. I’m an Employment Counsellor by profession. Aside from my day job where my employer dictates my email address, I also provide employment counselling services and job search help in my personal time. So the email I have is, “employmentcounsellorkelly@gmail.com” This email address BRANDS me by profession and now the email serves a dual purpose. Sure it’s how people get in contact with me but it also brands me and what I do. So if you’re a committed PSW you could be, “pswbriansmith@…” or “brianpswsmith@…”. Some version of the name and the job title embedded together is what you’re after.

The second strategy I use more and more isn’t so much about branding yourself by profession. This then is good for the kind of person who is looking for work in more than one line of work. It would be hard to brand yourself as a Personal Support Worker like the above when you’re also open to a job as an Office Administrative professional. That, “pswbriansmith@…” would only work for one of the jobs you’re after and send the wrong message for any other types.

So what to do? Consider what you want the employer to do when they receive your résumé. What you’re after of course is a call or contact in some way from the person arranging interviews to set one up. So why not say what you want right in your email? Consider, “callbriansmith@…” or “contactbrianqsmith@…” Adding the words, “call” or “contact” to your email has the effect of making the reader actually say to themselves a version of “I should call Brian Smith”. This is exactly what you’re hoping for in submitting your résumé.

Now while there’s nothing wrong with some version of your name only, as in “brian.q.smith@…” it’s pretty plain and straightforward. Nothing wrong as I say, but it’s not really DOING anything for you is it?

Your email might be something you’ve just taken for granted and never really thought much about. Think about it now!

Written By Kelly Mitchell

What Does Your Email Address Communicate? was originally published @ Employment Counselling with Kelly Mitchell and has been syndicated with permission.