These days when you’re searching for a job it’s rare to actually go into an office and drop off a printed cover letter and resume. Since everything is moving to a more online-based approach you now have the added pressure of writing an email that doesn’t automatically get trashed. So how do you differentiate yourself from the thousands of other applicants that are applying online?
1. Address the email to a person: Do your homework. Don’t address the email “Dear Sir” or “To Whom It May Concern”. Instead spend some time researching the company and locate who is in charge of HR or who the office manager is. Addressing the email to an actual person shows that you took the time to actually research the company instead of just firing off an email to a job ad like so many other people did.
2. Avoid being too wordy: You have a resume for a reason. Even though you may want to hit all the high points of it in your email, you should avoid listing out every qualification and achievement that makes you a good fit for the position because your email will end up being too long. Anything that’s longer than two or three short paragraphs probably won’t get read.
3. Follow instructions: Many job listings will have very specific instructions listed in the ad, such as using a particular subject line, making sure to either paste the resume in the body of the email or attach it as a word document, or answering specific questions asked within the body of the ad. Many people will ignore these instructions because they didn’t read the ad carefully enough. Don’t be one of those people; it will immediately get you disqualified.
4. Proof-read your email: Spell check will only catch so much in an email; it’s up to you to go through and proof-read everything and make sure that you’re using the correct “there/they’re/their” and “you’re/your”, etc. Sending an email that has a lot of grammatical and spelling errors shows that you aren’t truly interested in obtaining the job.
5. Be professional: Because email is used so casually, people tend to make the mistake of maintaining a casual tone when seeking a potential job. To convey that you are a professional capable of the job you’re applying for, however, you need to drop the casual tone and assume a more business-like one. You aren’t talking to a friend here, you’re communicating with a potential employer.
Crafting the perfect email that will get you noticed for a potential job position is tricky. Always maintain a tone of respect, address the email to a real person, be clear and concise, and ensure that you’ve thoroughly read both the job ad and your corresponding email. These tips will help set you apart from all of the job applicants who treated their introductory email more casually than you did.
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Heather Smith is an ex-nanny. Passionate about thought leadership and writing, Heather regularly contributes to various career, social media, public relations, branding, and parenting blogs/websites. She also provides value to finding a nanny by giving advice on site design as well as the features and functionality to provide more and more value to nannies and families across the U.S. and Canada. She can be available at H.smith7295 [at] gmail.com.