Thursday, January 10, 2013

Email Addresses and Phone Greetings...Why Take Chances




While I may not be the most creative writer and my blogs may not pose thought provoking questions on relevant hotly debated events, from time to time I appear to hit on useful tidbits that people find beneficial. And, ultimately, that is my true goal; simply providing tidbits of information that others may find helpful. Recently a contributor to OnlineMBA.com contacted me about a couple of my previous blogs regarding Business Casual Attire and Interview Attire. She had composed a more expansive piece which I felt was very well put together. It can be found here: Building a Business Wardrobe From the Bottom Up.

With all the focus on social media these days and advice on how to be certain your Facebook page is “potential employer” friendly. Or the dozens of plus pieces regarding how to build a LinkedIn profile for job seekers. Often overlooked are the old school items that once were part of our standard “advice” talk we gave to job seekers. I was reminded of this subject just the other day as I listened to my daughter recording an incoming greeting message on her new cell phone. Now she is not in the job market so her message was fine, but it caused me to reflect on when I used to counsel job seekers on both their email addresses as well as phone greetings. Of course back then before the days of “Saved by the Bell” and  Zack with his huge mobile phone people used home answering machines.


So here’s my daughter all giggly over her newly created greeting where she is, as she put it, tricking people into thinking they actually reached her live when instead she is just a recorded voice. And how many of us have heard similar tricky messages or the greeting with music jamming and so on? My advice to anyone who is currently in a job hunt mode, re-record your greeting to make it very straight forward and leaves no question regarding if you are or are not someone that should be considered for a hiring manager’s open position. Keep it simple. Keep it neutral.

Now the email address. If your email address is:


Or something along those lines and you are in a job hunt, change it, or better yet, simply get another account used solely for business reasons. 

Can’t get any more straightforward and any simpler. Like it or not, why take the chance of alienating one possible potential employer. And it really is not as simple as, “well I wouldn't want to work for someone so stuffy anyway.” You just never know what will catch someone wrong. That someone could be the most open minded person you’d met but they could be turned off by something that seems so innocent to someone else. Why take the chance? I’d be interested in your thoughts on this. Or your stories about phone greetings or email addresses.


Scot Dickerson, CPC | President
Capstone Search Group