I am so behind putting together the CGP network policies and procedures manual but I have made a decision on your email address.
This policy is solid – and while I live in the gray most of the time – we are going B and W on this standard. Your email needs to be your first name, initial, whatever plus a really creative dot…or no dot for you old school email artisans – and the email provider of your choice will typically take it from there.
Here is the new policy – if you have one those overly cutesy email addresses (confident I have not written a blog post with “cutesy” in it) – I will ask you to repeat it so much, spell it a couple of times, mix in a huh? or two and soon…you will discern – “Ya know…I really should change that.”
And here is why the policy is now in force. Because believe it or not – people say to me – “Hey, what is up with that email address?” Look, I promise you that if they don’t say it – they THINK it.
Hypothetical example to follow. Suppose, you are a dog lover and it is natural that you would wanna email address reflective of that, right? I mean, you got the hand painted dog biscuit jar and the furniture scars to prove it. Is that your feisty little Chihuahua barking as I interview you – oh, you have 3….ok…really? And 3 rescues on the way to your wannabe kennel? Wow. Ok.
Bottom line – people may want to email you. They want to drop you a line and your phonetic spelling of Chihuahua – spelled
“C-h-i-w-a-w-a-w” in your email – as in chiwawawlovr@dogguy.com – since chihuahualover@dogguy.com was taken – basically, your email…well…you screwed the pooch here. (Sorry… but you did.)
Tags: Andy Gregory, cgp network, email address, Indianapolis, personal branding, perspective
Thank you for this post. I want to share it with so many candidates. The thing is that it’s okay if you have the “cutesy” email. Not my thing but if that is an address you have used for awhile and your friends and family are used to using it we are not suggesting that you change it. For a job search you need a professional email address preferably yourname@emailprovider.com. There are plenty of free email providers out there (gmail, yahoo, hotmail, etc.. Pick one and use it for your job search. Not only will you appear more professional but it will keep your job search totally separate.
Now the barking in the background…