What To Do (And Not Do) When Emailing Recruiters

What To Do (And Not Do) When Emailing Recruiters

By Jared Flesher

With many job postings now requiring candidates to apply via email,first impressions are made not with a handshake but with words on acomputer screen. How formal should your first email to a recruiter be?

Just as it's usually a good idea to dress your best for aninterview, emails also should be professional and polished, sayhiring managers. If you decide capital letters aren't worth yourtime, you might be in for a long job search.

Kristen O'Hara, a senior recruiter for Dallas-based AffiliatedComputer Services Inc., an information-technology outsourcingcompany, says she has seen it all, including emails with funky fontsand distracting backgrounds."

Honestly, there are some emails that have completely ruined acandidate's chances for me," she says.To avoid sabotaging your job search, here are some tips to followwhen sending cover letters by email:

1. Forget what Instant Messenger has taught you.Job recruiters report that young professionals are the applicantsmost likely to send too-casual emails.Liz Shupe, interim director of the career-development center at theUniversity of Richmond, offers one explanation: "They're treating itlike an IM."When using Instant Messenger with friends and acquaintances, it'sacceptable to use abbreviations and incomplete sentences and toforgo capital letters and punctuation. In business correspondence,however, stick to the rules your English teacher taught you."We tell our students that an email is the same exact thing as acover letter, without the addresses on top," says Ms. Shupe.

2. Don't be cute.Your adorable email background of puppies snuggling with kittens hasgot to go."I remember a particular email written in that 'comic' font," saysMs. O'Hara. "That's just not professional to be sending to a workcontact." She recommends plain-vanilla fonts, such as Times NewRoman and Arial, and black text on a white background.

Ms. O'Hara also warns against sending emails from quirky emailaddresses. Slackerboy@ or Sexgoddess@ might not get the chuckle youhope for. If you leave your cellphone number as a contact number,make sure your voicemail message is appropriate, and that means itshouldn't include music, she says.

3. Customize your cover letter to the job.Wynne Billings, a corporate recruiter, says many of the emails shereads show a lack of effort on the part of the applicant."It's like they just cut and paste the same cover letter toeverything they're doing," says Ms. Billings, who works for ApexSystems Inc., a technology-staffing firm based in Glen Allen,Va. "It's so not catered toward our job."It's a big plus if applicants can show they know a lot about theposition they're applying for, Ms. Billings says. She recommends jobhunters use part of the job description they feel matches theirskills or experience to explain why they'd be good for theposition. "Nine out of 10 people don't do that," she says.

4. Don't ramble."Get to the point," says Hank Stringer, a former high-tech companyrecruiter in Austin, Texas. He doesn't like it when candidates usegimmicks to try to attract attention, citing as an example a missivefrom one applicant that blathered on about high gas prices. Messagesshould be straightforward and concise, he says.Mr. Stringer, who founded Hire.com, a recruitment-managementsoftware and services firm, says recruiters often have only secondsto devote to each cover letter they receive, and many are lookingfor just three things: the titles of the positions you've held, thecompanies you've worked for and your educational background.

Anything else, such as a long story about yourself, can get in theway, he says.

5. If attaching a cover letter, write a brief note in your email.There's no rule about whether a formal cover letter should beattached to an email or whether the email itself can serve as acover letter.If you attach your cover letter, the text of your email can say: "Ireally want to work for your company, please see attached resume andcover letter," says Ms. Billings. "Even maybe just tell me brieflywhy you want to work for my company, just give me a sentence, thenI'm going to open that cover letter and resume."

Mr. Stringer also warns against being too creative in the subjectline of an email. He recommends: "Experienced candidate seekingposition as [name of position]" or "Experienced candidate seekingposition with [name of company].""Use one word to describe yourself, but do not go overboard," hesays.-- Mr. Flesher is an intern at CareerJournal.com.

Source : www.careerjournal.com