By the time senior year rolls around, most undergraduates
have some experience with the corporate email world. There is almost never
formal training in “how to write a professional email” because it’s assuming
that you just know how, or can figure it out soon enough. The corporate email
world includes current and potential employers, colleagues, and your
professional network in general.
Poor emailing manners can get you misunderstood or blacklisted.
At the beginning of a professional relationship, your initial email will serve
as the first impression of you and in long term, digitally based
relationships your email tone will represent your character. We wanted to offer
some tips to help you write professional emails.
1. Bottom line, upfront please. Irrespective
of the mode of professional communication, get to the point quickly. The
subject of your email should be brief, eye catching, and descriptive. The first
few sentences of your email should focus on the reason(s) for the email and the
result(s) you want, after the recipient has read the email.
A 2008 study by Weinreich et al., found that, on average, only
49% of words on any given web page are actually read. More attention will be paid to your email’s first line than
the 20th.
2. Remember your audience. I personally
always refer to people older than myself as “Mr.” or “Ms.” in our first email.
Then when they respond and sign with their first name in the signature or in a more
open tone, I move to addressing them by their first name if it feels appropriate.
We’ll
write a follow up post on cold emails, but be sure that you know enough about
the person you’re email (correct spelling of their name, what their position
is, what they have done in the industry, etc.).
3. Maintain a professional and polite tone.
Sarcasm and humor are hard enough to detect in phone conversations, let alone
emails. Those reading emails don’t have the benefit of your non-verbal cues. Remember
that emails can easily be misinterpreted and you never want to burn bridges
accidentally.
4. Keep it clean- visually and grammatically. No one likes opening an email and
seeing an essay, especially if this is an introductory email. Brevity is key so
focus on saying what you mean in as few words as possible. I also try to break
up my text into different paragraphs if I can- instead of one large chunk of
text so that my content is more easily digestible.
Grammatical and spelling mistakes reflect poorly on one’s attention to
detail and reputation. In today’s economy, one strike against you as a first
impression means you are out. I always
re-read my emails (and other written work) to make sure that I prevent grammatically awkward sentences, forgotten relevant thoughts, or misspelled words.
Editing emails is essential.
For more on this
topic, enjoy these links:
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Phoebe Farber is the Founder & CEO of Prospective Plus, which has builtCareerApp.me - the Common App for Jobs. She is from NY but is currently based in Boston as she attends Northeastern University. Feel free to reach out to Phoebe at phoebe@careerapp.me .
I just wanted to put together some great resources for student entrepreneurs. Feel free to comment to mention any I missed!
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