The Use of Email Address When Looking for Job

First off, anyone who has read my young blog for any amount of time knows that I don’t think anyone should look for a job; people should look for a career (even if it’s the second or third one!!). A “job” is so “ho hum”. If you have to pay bills, of course, you do what you have to, trying to keep it relevant to your passion, so in some sense, that could be a “job”. I use “job” here generically, to mean both a “job” and a “career”.

In my experiences in Human Resources, where I have hired thousands of people over my career thus far, it has always amazed me about how naïve some job seekers are about how the little details can derail an otherwise promising job search. Let’s look at email addresses.

I understand that while you were in college or out on your “discover thyself” trip around the world, an address like hotbabe@email.com might have sounded cute and have been funny. The reality is that as soon as a hiring manager sees that, they are turned off. It shows a lack of judgment most importantly; and, it also shows that you are not serious about your job search and how you are perceived. How will the potential hiring manager know how you might portray their organization? In all times, and especially in times such as these, every little detail matters.

The flip side of this coin is that you can use your email address to great advantage. Suppose, for example, that you are (or were) a fantastic financial analyst. What would an email address like fantasticfinancialanalyst@mail.com say about you? It’s probably too long . What about JaneDoeMBA@mail.com? You get the point. You can use the email address to your advantage. It certainly can’t hurt; not getting away from your college or “fun” address certainly can, and probably will.

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