1. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke Writing Professional Emails Tips for professional workplace emails Advice for effective job application emails This slideshow will help you if: You don’t have experience writing or dealing with lots of email correspondence in a professional job You could use some tips for how to use email for an effective resume cover “letter”

2. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke Use a PROFESSIONAL address NOT good: bigdaddy04@hotmail.com hotstuff75@yahoo.com born2shoplift@hotmail.com drunktxn@yahoo.com zanatoseforevr@hotmail.com Better: joe.shmoe@yahoo.com j.a.shmoe@yahoo.com johnshmoe@yahoo.com MUCH better: ann.taylor@ttu.edu* *show your institutional affiliation if it is impressive or informative for your audience

3. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke Use a professional SIGNATURE Use a feature for adding signature blocks to your outgoing emails automatically. Make sure this signature has your name, number, and email address for business contacts. A professional signature contains all of the info on your business card and NOTHING more. Be conservative. A practically useful signature helps the audience keep track of things – for example, emails are often printed and filed as hardcopies.

4. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke A nice boring example: ========================= Art Fricke, PhD Lecturer, TTU English Mail Stop MS3091 Lubbock, TX 79409 Tel: 806/785-4910 arthur.fricke@ttu.edu http://www.faculty.english.ttu.edu/fricke =========================

5. A sig block for your job search Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke ====================== Art Fricke, senior undergrad NCSU Chemical Engineering 4522 Pittipat Lane, Apt. #212 Raleigh, NC 24890 (404) 555-5555 http://artfricke.wordpress.com ======================

6. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke Professional signatures DO NOT include: Inspirational quotations (why?) “A life with love will have some thorns, but a life without love will have no roses.” “May the Force be with you.”

7. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke Subject lines Follow subject line directions PRECISELY if you are applying for a solicited job. Otherwise, have a descriptive subject line that HELPS the audience to stay organized. NEVER leave a blank subject line (why?)

8. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke Subject line length You want the whole subject line to show up in the audience’s email browser. Keep in mind that some people have small screens, get email on netbooks or by phone, etc. Try to balance being short with still being descriptive and informative. If in doubt, choose descriptive. RE: Application for ‘Process Engineer’, job code #23418 RE: Thanks for the interview on Jan 20 RE: Hoping to talk about possible ‘Senior Analyst’ opening

9. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke It’s electronic MAIL So, give greetings and goodbyes Emails begin with a salutation: “Dear Dr. Dre,” “Dr. Dre,” “Dear Ms. Gibson,” “Dear Human Resources,” “Dear Exxon,” Emails end with a signature close: “Best wishes,” “Thank you,” “Sincerely,” Emails are like electronic LETTERS. You wouldn’t send a business letter without a polite professional salutation and signature close, so DO NOT omit these things from professional emails.

10. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke Be PROFESSIONAL with your salutations and closings Not good salutation and signature close choices (why?): “Hey Party People,” “Yo Dudes and Dudettes,” “Praise Him,” “Fight the Power,” You can never go badly wrong by being TOO bland or formal in a professional email or letter.

11. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke Get the salutation right If you have never met the person, use Mr. or Ms. or their title (Dr., etc) Make CERTAIN you get their title right – for example, don’t use “Mr.” for a “Dr.” or “J.D.”, and DO NOT use Mrs. or Miss ONLY use someone’s first or first and last name in a salutation (like “Dear Art” or “Dear Art Fricke”) if you’ve already met or talked with them. You can never go badly wrong by being too bland or formal in a professional email salutation.

12. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke Email body DO NOT use emoticons, graphics, backgrounds, excessive punctuation, etc. Remember that professional emails are electronic business letters, so use the same restraint that you would use in a hardcopy business letter. No triple exclamation points!!!! No all full caps FOR SCREAMING EMPHASIS. no all lower caps. No exclamation points ending! Every! Sentence!

13. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke Use SHORT paragraphs Do NOT use long paragraphs. Anything more than six or seven sentences is way too long for an email. Put CLEAR LINE BREAKS between paragraphs. Audiences want to SKIM emails. Your job is to help them do this. Also, remember that they might view the email in a much smaller window than you use to type it. Be considerate.

14. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke Use SIMPLE plain text formatting Do not use fancy auto format text just because you can. Some audiences won’t have the same fancy email program that you have. Auto formatted text often shows up as HTML gobledygook on other people’s email browsers. You can get the same PRACTICAL results using only the simplest text formatting, so KEEP THINGS SIMPLE by using only non-HTML formatting.

15. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke plain text formatting examples Instead of HTML: bold or italics bullets automatic numbering margins and page breaks Use PLAIN TEXT: ALL CAPS - a simple hyphen - to begin list items 1. regular typed numbering a full space break between ¶s (just hit the “enter” key twice)

16. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke Include a CALL-TO-ACTION Make the point of the email very explicit. Tell the audience EXACTLY what you want them to do next. If the audience has to send you an email asking what they should do next, then the email has failed in its purpose and whatever you need is MUCH MUCH less likely to get done. Job application email cover letters have very specialized “calls to action”.

17. Copyright 2013 by Arthur Fricke Attach files with CLEAR file names If you need to attach a file (“.doc”, “.pdf”, “.jpeg”, etc) to help the reader do something, then use a CLEAR filename that helps the reader keep track of the file on THEIR computer. DO NOT attach a resume file called something like “myresume.pdf” or “res303.pdf” or “salesresume.pdf” Call it something like “Fricke_Resume.pdf” that will help people keep track of it.