Email & Voicemail Etiquette

It is important to conduct yourself in a professional manner when you are searching for a job. You need to consider your email and voicemail when projecting your professional persona. Unfortunately, many times people transitioning from the military don’t realize the need to adjust their email and voicemail to reflect professionalism. The result can either be entertaining or annoying to potential employers.

Email Etiquette
Start off by using a professional email address. Sugardaddy@email.com may be great to use when emailing your friends, but it doesn’t work when you’re looking for a job. The best email addresses include your name, for example: joe.smith@email.com. If you don’t have a professional email address, there are plenty of places where you can obtain one for free (gmail, hotmail, yahoo, etc.).

When emailing a potential employer remember to keep the body of the email professional. Use proper grammar and punctuation. The popular use of texting shorthand and smiley face icons should be avoided at all costs. Write your emails like you’d write a professional business letter. At the end of the email write your full name and include your contact information. Always use spell check before you click the “send” button.

Voicemail Etiquette
As a recruiter I spend a substantial amount of time on the phone and end up talking to a lot of answering machines. I have been preached to, cursed at, lulled by music, proposed to, and seduced by answering machines. This is the biggest pet peeve of every recruiter I know. When conducting a job search you should have a professional message on your home answering machine and your cell phone voicemail. It should be short, to the point, and understandable. Here’s an example, “Hi, you’ve reached Joe Smith. I’m away from my phone. Please leave me a message and I’ll get back to you at my earliest convenience.” Some of you may be hesitant to change your voicemail message. Keep this in mind; you can always change it back after you’ve secured a job.

When leaving a voicemail for a potential employer make sure you speak slowly and clearly, leaving your full name and phone number. I have received many voicemails where the candidates didn’t leave their phone number or they said it so fast I couldn’t understand it. Occasionally I get a voicemail from a Steve (or a Mike) and they don’t give their last name or phone number. Then I’m left thinking to myself, “Steve who?”

I hope this information is useful. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.