Category: Workplace

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How to Create a Professional Email Signature


In prior blog posts I spoke about some rather sophisticated career management documents such a brag book, a networking newsletter, and a one-page biography. Today, I would like to focus on a more simple aspect of your job search toolkit but one that is many, many times overlooked: adding a professional email signature.
    

Consider the following scenario:
 

You are a “heads down” corporate employee doing a good, no, make that a great job. Somehow, due to a perfect storm, you lose your job in a downright awful economy. After the shock wears off, you sit down at your personal computer and realize you have to start using your personal email as your “base of operation.” So, you make a list of everybody you know and you start firing off emails letting people know of your situation. Like any savvy job seeker, you begin the networking process which creates a lot more email activity.
 
What you may not have considered are three key issues related to your newfound “base of operation” – your personal email account. For the time being while in full-bore job search mode, your personal email account is really your work email account. Why? Because you need to put forth the same professional image in your email signature when you are in transition (unemployed) as you do when you are employed. Let’s look carefully at each component of a professional email box: the email address itself, your display settings and the email signature.
 

Email Address

 
This is quite obvious but so often overlooked. “WineKook10 {at} gmail.com” is not an email address that evokes professionalism, intelligence and competence! Instead, create an email address more in line with what you would see in a work setting, for example, “Firstname_Lastname {at}yahoo.com.”
 

Email Name Settings

 
In a prior article I ranted about one of my pet peeves regarding LinkedIn etiquette. Well, here is a second pet peeve. Often I receive emails that read in my email program like so: from “ronjones{at}hotmail.com.” Or just as bad: from “ron” with no last name. Emails should always be sent via “First name Last name” (or vice versa). Not only is it professional, it is also the only way that recruiters and hiring managers can find your email in their overstuffed email bins – by sorting or searching on your name. This setting is easy to find and adjust in your email program.
 

Email Signature

 
It also amazes me as to how many emails I receive that have no email signature whatsoever. At best, I might see the person sign their name. For example, “Thanks, Matt.” While on the job you used a professional email signature, now, while in transition, it is more important than ever to convey a professional image.
 
Here are instructions on how to create a highly professional and functional email signature when you are in job search mode. I bet you will keep the signature you create even after you land. After all, job search is not a one-time event during a time of need. Instead, you must incorporate a professional email signature and other strategies into your on-going career management. I am using my email signature as an example. Feel free to tailor these ideas to your own style.
 

Name and Title

 
Certainly lead with your name. Consider a larger point size and an attractive font and color. If you are in transition, consider starting your own consulting company. That way you can give yourself a title just like your last full time job! You may find yourself becoming a successful entrepreneur. If this strategy is not right for you, you can still add a tagline like the examples below.

Email and Phone Number

 
Include your telephone number and your email address. You want to make it extremely easy for recruiters and hiring managers to contact you. Don’t make it difficult to be reached. Believe it or not, there is some spontaneity in the corporate hiring process. Recruiters and hiring managers may call you on a whim, on a hunch, but you must make it easy for them. Having your phone and email address on every new, forward, or reply email can make the difference.
 

Tagline

 
Marketing is key for the viability of any business. Treat job search as a business. This means you must market yourself. When you are in job search you are not exclusively an information technology professional, sales professional, or engineer, you are also a marketer! You must market yourself because no one else will do it for you. I repeat… no one else will do it for you.
 
All successful marketing campaigns include a tagline or catch phrase. You need one, too. Your tagline should be just a few words boiled down to your professional essence.
 
Some examples:
 
Tax Accountant: In taxing times, count on me.
 
Web Designer: Visually translating your complex thoughts.
 
Training Professional: Amy is the name, Training is my game.
 
The one I used personally when I was in job search mode was:

Even better, give the consulting company, discussed above, a logo. If you do, you can include your logo in your email signature. (Starting a consulting company when you are unemployed is a great idea: you create a brand for yourself, it shows you are motivated, you can make some interim cash, it is an insurance policy against a future layoff and you can use the business as a soft landing upon retirement.) You can consider adding your own branded logo even if you are not associating it with your new consulting company. The logo can be simply your own personal logo.

   

Website and Blog Links

 
Adding your website and/or blog creates a brand of a busy, successful, current, relevant and technologically-savvy professional. This is the exact image that you want to project when in job search mode!  

LinkedIn and Twitter Hyperlinked Icons

 
In this section you can really demonstrate your 2011 brand. Companies need professionals that can relate to all of the generations in the workforce. You will clearly be showing your connection and adaptability to the Gen Y and Millennial generations by adding social media hyperlinks to your email signature. It goes without saying that the content you link to must be of the professional variety only! LinkedIn is perfect because of its professional focus. Twitter is also being used extensively by professionals and executives to share cutting edge business information. Twitter is no longer just for kids to tweet about their favorite mocha latte.
 
You can find the full instructions for creating the clickable hyperlinked icons from this YouTube video. These instructions assume that you use Outlook as your email client. The time consuming part is finding the right LinkedIn and Twitter icons and resizing them so that they look appropriate for your email signature. Not to worry – I have already done this for you. You can download and save my LinkedIn icon here (click “download here” in upper right corner) and my Twitter icon here. Now open Outlook and follow these steps to complete the process:
 
1. Tools
2. Options
3. Mail Format
4. Signatures
5. New (or edit)
6. Click: Insert picture (on right hand side of screen) >> Insert desired picture
7. Now that picture is inserted into the signature click on the chain link icon (hyperlink) >>type in desired URL
8. Save

Finished Product

 
At this point, you have all the tools you need to create a professional, sophisticated, branded and technologically-savvy email signature. One last tip: don’t left-justify everything. Give it some visual appeal by using different alignment, fonts, point sizes and color. Here’s the end result, my signature:
 
Please leave a comment below with your new professional email signature!

Related: How To Write a Professional Bio (8 Tips).

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Workplace

10 Twitter Tips to Find Your New Job

We’ve given you plenty of LinkedIn tips, Twitter is perhaps the most talked-about social media site of the moment. Although Twitter is arguably perceived as being more about socializing than professional networking, it is still a hugely valuable tool for businesses, professionals and job seekers. Here are 10 tips for using Twitter to get a…

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Employer Branding Talent Acquisition Workplace

What Sales and Marketing Resume Should Focus on


 
Sales and marketing are a vital part in any business. Because of this, opportunities in sales and marketing will never run dry. These jobs would always be available no matter how bad the economy gets. But getting into this career is not always easy. For highly specialized technical sales positions, certain qualifications are required for you to get the job. So, if you want to apply for a these kinds of opportunities, revise your resume a bit to help you get the job.
 
These are the things your resume should focus on:
 

Business Development Skills

 
Employers are not only on the lookout for people who can sell. Expanding the business is just as important. Detail in your resume and cover letter what skills you have in networking, lead generation, sourcing and probing/pre-qualifying, as well as any experiences you have had organizing events in your previous jobs.
 

Numbers

 
It’s all about the numbers! Employers and recruiters scanning your resume will be keeping an eye out for any figures included in your resume. Highlight increases in sales, relevant industry rankings you have attained, number of years or months it took you to bring a certain amount of profit, percentage of increase in customers or product sales, costs you have reduced (if not eliminated), and other pertinent contributions.
 

Accounts Managed

 
Name the products or services you have promoted and sold (especially the complex ones). No matter how big or small the brand is, they count. Big brands are often accompanied by demanding decision makers, so highlight the abilities you used to win them over and deliver on your promise. Previous experience though not lengthy is still experience and is definitive proof that you can do the job.
 


 

Advertising Skills

 
If you have good advertising skills, then that’s considered a bonus to your already stellar resume! Copywriting talents and a knack for creating promotional materials tell employers that you can effectively execute their marketing strategies and reach the target audience for the products or services assigned to you.
 

Training

 
Some say that selling is an art. Because of this, a certain degree of education and training can be helpful to get into a job in sales and marketing. If you have taken courses for enhancing abilities in negotiation and closing, probing, presentation, account management, strategic marketing, print and other media advertising, then by all means include them in your resume. This tells employers and recruiters you have the tools to help you perform on the job and contribute to the bottom line.
 
A proven track record is often the requirement for a job in sales and marketing. However, the ability to manage multiple accounts, to communicate and interact with people are also of great value. So get to work and make sure that resume and cover letter sells the best things about you!

Related: Resume v. One-page Proposal: A side by side comparison

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Workplace

10 LinkedIn Tips to Kickstart Your Job Search

LinkedIn brands itself as a social network for professionals and a lot of people do use it successfully for sharing information and news about their companies or discussing key issues in their industry. But what can LinkedIn do for the jobseeking professional? Many of us are not as clued into all of LinkedIn’s different features…

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Workplace

6 Interview Types You Must Know as a Candidate


 
Before you go on your interview, you should realize there are several common types of job interviews. You will definitely want to inquire what type of job interview you will be going on beforehand so you can best prepare for it. Don’t be afraid to ask your recruiter what type of job interview will be conducted, as it serves both of you and the interviewer to know. In this article, I am going to discuss the six of the most common types of job interviews.
 

1. Traditional one on one job interview

 
The traditional one on one interview is where you are interviewed by one representative of the company, most likely the manager of the postion you are applying for. Because you will be working with this person directly if you get the job, he/she will want to get a feel for who you are and if your skills match those of the job requirements.
 
You may be asked questions about the experience on your resume, what you can offer to the company or position. Many times the interviewer will ask you questions such as “Why would you be good for this job?” or “Tell me about yourself.” The one on one interview is by far, one of the most common types of job interviews.
 

2. Panel Interview

 
In a panel interview, you will be interviewed by a panel of interviewers. The panel may consist of different representatives of the company such as human resources, management, and employees. The reason why some companies conduct panel interviews is to save time or to get the collective opinion of panel regarding the candidate. Each member of the panel may be responsible for asking you questions that represent relevancy from their position.
 

3. Behavioral Interview

 
In a behavioral interview, the interviewer will ask you questions based on common situations of the job you are applying for. The logic behind the behavioral interview is that your future performance will be based on a past performance of a similar situation. You should expect questions that inquire about what you did when you were in XXX sitation and how did you dealt with it. In a behavioral interview, the interviewer wants to see how you deal with certain problems and what you do to solve them.

  

4. Group Interview

 
Many times companies will conduct a group interview to quickly prescreen candidates for the job opening as well as give the candidates the chance to quickly learn about the company to see if they want to work there. Many times, a group interview will begin with a short presentation about the company. After that, they may speak to each candidate individually and ask them a few questions.
 
One of the most important things the employer is observing during a group interview, is how you interact with the other candidates. Are you emerging as a leader or are you more likely to complete tasks that are asked of you? Neither is necessarily better than the other, it just depends on what type of personality works best for the position that needs to be filled.
 

5. Phone Interview

 
A phone interview may be for a position where the candiate is not local or for an initial prescreening call to see if they want to invite you in for an in-person interview. You may be asked typical questions or behavioral questions.
 
Most of the time you will schedule an appointment for a phone interview. If the interviewer calls unexpectedly, it’s ok to ask them politely to schedule an appointment. On a phone interview, make sure your call waiting is turned off, you are in a quiet room, and you are not eating, drinking or chewing gum.
 

6. Lunch Interview

 
Many times lunch interviews are conducted as a second interview. The company will invite you to lunch with additional members of the team to further get to know you and see how you fit in. This is a great time to ask any questions you may have about the company or postition as well, so make sure you prepare your questions in advance.
 
Although you are being treated to a meal, the interview is not about the food. Don’t order anything that is too expensive or messy to eat. Never take your leftovers home in a doggy bag either. You want to have your best table manners and be as neat as possible. You don’t need to offer to pay, it is never expected for a candidate to pay at a lunch interview.
 
Chew quietly and in small bites so you don’t get caught with a mouthful of food when the recruiter asks you a question.
 
So, now you have an idea of these six common types of job interviews. However, no matter what type of job interview you go on, always do your best to prepare for it the best you can ahead of time so you can do your best and show them the best of who you are.
 

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Workplace

6 Ways to Start Building Your Personal Brand Now

Everyone has a personal brand. Do you know what yours conveys to potential employers? When your name is Googled, what comes up? If you haven’t given much thought to your personal brand, here are a few ways to start building it: 1. Sign up for professional networking sites. You may have been one of the…

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Workplace

How to Make Your Resume Stand Out Online

There’s a sea of online resume postings out there, and with the huge number of resumes submitted via e-mail or online forms that the employers have to scrutinize, they may all start to look the same. When you’re competing with hundreds of other equally qualified applicants, you have to establish yourself as the front-runner from…

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Workplace

3 Hot Tips to Finding Your Dream Job

While a career contributes to your time on the planet in many ways, most people agree that it shouldn’t be the sum total of your life. If you work a regular full-time job, you get 128 hours per week to sleep, eat, be a romantic partner and parent, or participate in sports and entertainment. There…

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Workplace

Social Networks: Boy, Are You in Luck

The evolution of social networks is the major change in the landscape in the last few years, and they’re continuing to evolve every moment. They can dramatically improve your sources of information and your career management results. If you’re not using them and your competition is (and, I promise you, they are), you’re at a disadvantage.
 
Using them is fun, too. You can find people that you haven’t seen in years, from high school friends to former employers and neighbors, as well as meet new people with similar interests. You will discover ways that you can help each other that you never would have known about before. Don’t worry. They don’t have to be a huge time sink unless you allow them to be. This book isn’t a primer on how to use them; those already exist, and the tutorials on their own sites make using them fairly easy and safe.
 
Here, however, I will give an overview of the pros and cons of the three dominant ones, and provide ideas about how to use them to build your reputation, your knowledge, and your entrees into companies.
 

The Pros and Cons of Social Networks

 
Tidy classifications of “pros and cons” or “do’s and don’ts” don’t really work well for social networks. The answer is always, “it depends.” Considering the implications of the four areas below and how you want to be known before you plunge in can lead to improved choices, visibility, and reputation over the long term.
 

Companies can find you.

 
According to Jennifer Scott, Principal at HireEffect, 80 percent of recruiters (agency, independent, and corporate) use LinkedIn to source candidates. It’s free (let that word and its
implications sink in), and they’re tracking both passive candidates, ones that aren’t looking for jobs that they find with keyword and interest group searches, and active candidates who may be tracking them down.
 
Remember how you did the research in Strategy #1: Send Clear Signals, about the key words in job postings of interest to your markets or from interviews with your colleagues on “the four most important skills” they’d be looking for? You built them into your résumé so it’s skimmable and scannable, and embedded them in your Elevator Story, right?
 
Now it’s time to embed them in your profile on the social networking sites, your professional headline on LinkedIn, and in your choice of interest groups. Make yourself easy to find! If you make your profile settings as public as is reasonable, including putting your phone number or email on your profile so an employer can contact you by Googling you rather than needing to join LinkedIn, you’ve just helped both sides.
 
My client, George, had a nonsolicit, an agreement with his former employer that he couldn’t ask any of his former clients to follow him to his next firm. George put his new contact info on his LinkedIn profile that popped up on Google and, voilà, people could track him down at his new location, easily and legally.
 

Reputation . . . make it or break it.

 
Any potential employer is checking you out now on Google, LinkedIn, and Facebook, at a minimum. They can’t afford not to since they’re the easiest tools for performing due diligence. According to ExecuNet research, 44 percent of recruiters have eliminated candidates as a result of information found online. Even your current company is probably checking you out, too.
 
The groups you’ve selected to join on LinkedIn, the crazy pictures you’ve posted on Facebook, rants against your company or boss—this information is never private. Never. It’s fairly simple for others to work around your privacy settings and, after all, you’re posting information,
pictures, and opinions on the Internet. Did you think it was really going to be private?
 
“Digital dirt” is a great expression coined by Kirsten Dixson in Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building your Brand. Google yourself and see what comes up. Is there “dirt,” or entries that do not build the brand that you would like, especially on the first page of Google? What about your credit rating or information about legal or marital disputes? It’s all out there. Y
 
ou can set up a Google alert if you want to track when your name pops up on the Internet. Stacey Rudnick, director of MBA career services at the University of Texas at Austin, teaches a required course to first-year MBA students that includes managing your online presence. She suggests Googling yourself on a regular basis (including using Google Images for pictures), thinking of who you’re connecting with, considering how your privacy settings are structured, and, most importantly, making sure your information is consistent.
 
Remember Debra Cohen’s research at the Society for Human Resource Management in Strategy #3: Stop Looking for Jobs? More than 93 percent of their HR members said that they are “less likely to hire” if “information on the applicant’s profile contradicts that provided on the résumé, cover letter, or CV.” If the stories differ, is that person trustworthy?
 
Should you be the victim of digital dirt that isn’t accurate, either bury it, delete it, or differ. “Bury” is pushing a highly ranked Google link further back onto later pages, where it won’t get noticed as much. Burying a link can be done by your publishing material about your research, your blog, or your insights on professional trends. “
 
The more information you post about yourself,” says Kate Brooks from Career Services at the University of Texas at Austin, “the less likely any negative information is to show up when your name is Googled by an employer.” Unsolicited testimonials, that is, friends or clients who volunteer third-party testimonials about you that are frequently viewed so they appear on the first page or two when your name is Googled, are even better.
 
“Delete” you can often do with comments on your wall on Facebook, and “differ” is contacting the source of the “dirt” and enlisting help to have the tone of the comments changed or reversed. A phone call saying, “I’m really trying to set a professional tone on my wall because I’m starting a job search. Could I get your help?” is much more likely to elicit the response you need over retaliation or defensiveness.
 
Taking the fight outside, so to speak, out of the social network to a direct connection, shows your maturity and wisdom . . . and it gets results. 
 


 

Promiscuous networking.

 
It’s easy to connect randomly and casually on all three sites. If you’re in any way a public figure, people who have heard you speak at a meeting or read about you may ask to link to you. Someone you meet at a party may want to friend you. You may extend the same casual invitations to others. Who wouldn’t want George Clooney as a friend? Do you really know these people though? Are they safe (will they protect your boundaries and identity), and are their connections safe as well? Do you really want all of these people to have access to the inner workings of your network or your life? If the answer is “yes,” link away, but I’m going slowly.
 
I personally use two filters when deciding whether to connect with someone: I need to know the person fairly well and to feel comfortable with writing a reference for the person (not that I will for everyone, but I want to be able to should they want one). Given the amount of time I’m going to spend on each site (finite), the awkwardness of “un-friending” someone if necessary, and the importance of maintaining the brand that my clients value, I want to build something that’s sustainable from the start.
 
After all, this should be a long-term network for each of us. A cleantech investment banker, Bic Stevens, told me that if he isn’t sure about accepting an invitation, he asks the person to call him so they can get to know each other better first, a practice that is both polite and a good idea.
 
Lauryn Franzoni, ExecuNet vice president and executive editor, concludes in the 2009 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report that “There’s a big difference between purposeful networking and ‘friending.’ Do you want to meet the people who can bring you closer to your career goals, or do you want to collect names? It’s about cultivating your community, nurturing your network and maintaining meaningful—and reciprocal—connections.” Quantity does not equal quality. Check back with the next edition of this book, since the effect of promiscuous networking that online social networking encourages is still being discovered. In the meantime, use your judgment before clicking “accept.”
 

Value share.

 
In social networks, as in life, it’s not just about you. Even given the 140-character constraints of Twitter, the etiquette is to help each other instead of shamelessly promoting your own goals. “Retweeting” someone’s message is a perfect example of a three-fer. Jennifer Scott of HireEffect defines “retweet” as forwarding to your followers any information you find useful that other people have tweeted you. “Not only will the person who authored the tweet be thankful, but so will those who see the message as a result of your generosity.” The original sender, the forwarding person, and all his followers benefit. If you find yourself as the originator of a tweet that is fortunate enough to be retweeted, remember to thank the forwarding person for retweeting your message.
 
Doing good deeds pays off at many levels on all of the social networking sites as well as in your personal network and job creation. Surprised?

Related: What Social Networks Have Most Job Search Activity? (Infographic)
 
Pam Lassiter is the principal of Lassiter Consulting and a popular speaker on career management with the media, corporations, and associations. She currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and is available for interviews.
 
Reprinted with permission from The New Job Security, Revised: The Five Best Strategies for Taking Control of Your Career. Copyright © 2010 by Pam Lassiter, Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, Berkeley, CA.