Are you missing the point of a simple email?
I sit here trying to catch up on my email communication, as I try not to have more than 40 emails in my inbox at the end of every day (sometimes even on the weekends), and a few thoughts have come to mind. I love the clients and the candidates…I love my job, what I do, and the people I work with. After all, I have been recruiting for 14 years now. So anyway, as I sit here working from the bottom of my inbox up, I had to stop and write these thoughts down on paper (so to speak).
Do you think about what you put in your emails? Do you think about making it easier for the person reading that email? Are you putting too much faith in the person reading your emails? Do you want faster responses to your emails (can’t guarantee this last one outside of my world, but gives you a better chance)?
If you have answered ‘No’ to the first two and ‘Yes’ to the second two, then listen up. These are only suggestions, but I would think about how easy they are and why they might be worth the extra few minutes. (In leaving myself and my inbox wide open to the onslaught of disagreement, if you come up with a legitimate reason NOT to do anything in this entry…email me.)
First, put your phone number under your name. Do you know how many times I have to go look up a number to call a candidate I’m talking to about a job? How easy could you make it on the person reading your email by simply adding a signature line with phone number if nothing else. You could even set your signature to include it. Let’s change the situation…let’s say you are in business for yourself and you are trying to get new business from a new potential client. …and it comes down to you or one other company. What if that client who has no loyalty to anyone (yet) chooses the one with the easy access phone number? Make it simple on yourself and others.
How about this one… I am talking to a candidate (out of the 20 candidates a week I talk to on the phone alone) and I give them permission to follow up with me at said time and said day (I try to keep myself accountable). So I get an email saying ‘Hi Lena, just checking in,’ without details on what position or what they are checking in for. I know I am good (haha) but not that good. Anyway, once again I must go take the time to look it up. Although that is only 3 minutes of my time…if you multiply that or put that email at the bottom of 162 other emails? All I can say is I appreciate a concise, informative email. (more…)
tags: awesome, career search, interview, Recruiting
