What Is Your E-Mail Address?

No matter what style your resume is in, I'll bet your name, address, phone number and e-mail address is on the top of the page. I remember writing resume before e-mail was as ubiquitous as it is today. Nearly everyone had an address that ended in aol.com or yahoo.com, as well as the occasional bigfoot.com (anyone remember that one?). And there was nothing worse than the 726651.98712@compuserve.com ones. But several years ago, I started seeing a disturbing trend of inappropriate e-mail addresses adorning the top of the page.

Candidates sent me resumes with e-mail addresses that looked like (slight variations made to protect the guilty):

sexxxymomma69@...
DrUnKiE21@...
partyanimalzzz@...
wonder44woman@...

As the hiring manager, can you guess what my perception of these candidates was? An e-mail address like one of those is a huge red-flag!

My recommendation? Create a unique e-mail address specific to your job search. Don't use it for forwarding jokes or registering for a dating website. There are a lot of great e-mail services out there, just pick one. GMail (the free e-mail service from Google) works perfect. For best results, use your real name as your handle if you can. If your name is Suzanne Queue, try to get suzanne.queue@gmail.com. By the way, you can add "." anywhere in your e-mail address.

Lastly, if you own your domain and your e-mail address is on that domain, everyone that sees your resume will visit your website. Make sure it's something you'd want a prospective employer to see.

job search

How To Be Successful At A Job Fair

A job fair can be an effective way to meet hiring managers and recruiters in your community and learn about many job opportunities in one day. If you are prepared and use your time wisely, you can walk away with many strong job leads. Many job seekers make careless mistakes that can hurt their chances of success at a job fair. Here are 16 simple tips to make your next job fair a success.

my job story

My Job Story - Jenny-Faye Klooster

In this week's My Job Story, we hear from Jenny-Faye Klooster, a Photo Stylist who runs the photography department for Gibson Overseas, a large kitchenware company, a job she has held for almost four years.

career, communication

How To Be A Better Public Speaker

Do you want to differentiate yourself from your peers at work? I have a simple suggestion. All you have to do is speak up! That's right. It's time to work on your public speaking skills.

defense, job search

Stop Networking!

Networking is a terrible verb to describe human interactions. For some people, networking still has that cheesy sounding ring to it. I've spent countless hours reading newspaper and magazine articles, blogs, tweets and Facebook posts from recruiters from all over the country and nearly all of them say that one of the most important job search strategies is networking.

How To Introduce Yourself Once You're Referred

Asking for a referral is important. How you handle that referral is even more important. If you want to work at XYZ Company and you know someone that works there, you should ask them to refer you to a hiring manager. Ideally, your contact will make a personal introduction, or copy you on an e-mail introduction. Sometimes, you'll just get a phone number or e-mail address of the hiring manager.

Know Your Risks, Don't Settle

Even if you've been without a job for some time, it is generally best not to settle for a job that you may not enjoy. Having said that, there are a couple of questions you should ask yourself when evaluating a job, or when determining what companies to target.

High Demand, Low Supply Blog

Welcome to High Demand, Low Supply, a career and job-search blog written by Matt and Dawn Beckwith.

Finding a job can be stressful. Here, you'll find tips to increase your odds of success with finding a new job.

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