Resume Writing Basics: The E-mail Address

E-mail addresses are where people tend to shoot themselves in the foot. As the internet and using e-mail has become more and more popular, employers are contacting potential employees through this medium more and more. You may have even submitted your job application through e-mail, too.

Therefore, the e-mail address you choose to have could make or break your opportunities on the job. If you’re using the same e-mail address since junior high, it’s time to get a new one. Because most likely, you’re e-mail address is something cute like, “sexylaura” or “babygotback2002” or “cookycrumbzz.” Such e-mail accounts lack maturity and show poor taste a potential employer.

 

If you don’t have a professional e-mail account, create one through any of the free e-mail services out there (Yahoo, Google, Hotmail). It’s best to use one of the following formats for your new e-mail handle:

 

• firstname.lastname

• lastname.firstname

• firstinitial-lastname

• lastname-firstinitial

 

You get the picture. You don’t have to use hyphens, underscores or periods if you don’t want to. If you have a name that could be read out wrong, you might want to create these breaks so it’s obvious to employers it’s your name and not a cutesy handle. However you choose to create your professional e-mail account, the best advice/choice is to stick to your name and/or the initials of your name. Keep out personal references and tastes at all costs. The one exception might be to include numbers (year you graduated, sports jersey number) and only if all variations you’ve tried with your name are already taken by someone else.

 If you don’t want to create an entirely new e-mail address, many e-mail accounts allow for you to create multiple handles. If you’re e-mail account doesn’t have a professional e-mail handle, use this tool before applying for any jobs.