When emailing, keep your tone in check - Sterling Career Concepts

When emailing, keep your tone in check When emailing, keep your tone in check There are some days when I think the world would be a better place if everyone stopped and reread each of their emails before hitting the send button. I speak with job seekers daily. I know firsthand the stress that many job seekers are under. I work virtually with clients and colleagues daily as well. With that combination, I see an obscene amount of email correspondence good and bad. Recently, I received two late night emails with supporting documentation about one hour apart. The first email closed with a comment about looking forward to speaking with me and provided availability. The second email reiterated a strong interest in wanting to speak with me and a call to action to schedule the call. Completely unintentional on the part of the author, but from the standpoint of the recipient Please give me a chance to respond to your first request for a phone conversation before pushing to set up the call again! Im checking my Blackberry at 6 in the morning with your emails back to back in my in box. I pride myself on being responsive to my clients, but were talking two after hours emails here â€" not even on back to back days. I share this frustration only because I want job seekers to step back and reconsider how they are writing their emails. Im not an employer, but if I were, I would have been turned off by the combination of these two messages. The first message was professionally written, but combined with the second email, the tone shifted to aggressive and condescending. If youre writing me a back a short time later (and after hours, to boot), please keep that in mind. That second email should have ideally been short and sweet to provide an additional attachment. Your email correspondence including your language, wording, tone, and presentation all come together to count towards the first (or second) impression youre giving a potential employer. Likewise, if youre looking to receive help, guidance, or suggestions from a member of your network, please do not accidentally rub him or her the wrong way with the tone of your email.