In today’s world, most people communicate by email – it’s quicker, cheaper and more reliable than regular post. So, it’s only normal that you’ll be expected to know how to use it effectively. And, if you are applying for jobs using email, it’s especially important that you know how to impress the recipient. So, have a look at how you currently send emails – do you think they look professional? If not, read on to find out how you can make every email you send the best it can be.
Subject Line
First, you need to get your subject line right. Imagine you are a busy office manager and you have 100 emails in your inbox every day. How would you decide which emails you want to open and read and which you don’t? A good place to start is to look at the subject line. If the sender has written a good subject line, you will know exactly what the email is about and you’ll be able to decide if you want to read it or not pretty quickly.
Now, imagine you are the person sending an email to a manager, how are you going to make sure that the manager looks at your email? With a great subject line that’s how. Think of your subject line as your headline – you want it to grab the readers’ attention and tell them what it’s about. You need to put as much information in the subject line as you can. Have a look at the two examples below and see which you think is better.
Subject: Meeting
Subject: Meeting 10am Tuesday, Room 4 – stationary budget
You can see the difference here, can’t you? One subject line tells you nothing and the other tells you pretty much all you need to know. So, try to make sure you create subject lines more like the second example.
And never, ever leave the subject line blank!
Main Body of Email
Once you’ve sorted the subject line you can move on to the main body of the email. How you approach this part of the email depends on who you are sending it to. Some people think it’s okay to send informal messages to businesses, but it’s really not. If it’s family members or friends, it’s perfectly acceptable for you to be informal – using slang and familiar terms such as ‘Hi’ and ‘Thanks’ etc. However, if you are sending your message to a potential employer or as part of your current job – you need to be professional. Just think of a business email as being the same as a business letter, use the same format and include the same details.
Start the email with ‘Dear’ and the name of the person you are sending the message to. If you don’t know that persons’ name, simply write ‘Dear Sir/Madam’. Then make sure you use a formal style of writing, which means don’t use contractions, slang or colloquialisms. Finish off the email with the proper salutation – ‘Yours sincerely’ if you don’t know the recipients’ name and ‘Yours faithfully’ if you do.
Format
Formatting a business email is easy – it’s just the same as a business letter. Don’t think that because it’s an email you can just send whatever format you like. If you do, you risk looking unprofessional. You should stick to a standard business letter format, like this:
Dear Mr Taylor,
RE: Vacancy for Office Assistant
I would like to apply for the vacancy of Office Assistant, which I’ve seen advertised in this week’s Manchester Metro.
I have enclosed my CV as requested and hope you find it of interest.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours faithfully,
Sally Jones
You can also include your name and address and that of the recipient and the date, but it’s not really necessary, unless they are specifically requested, of course.
So, that’s about it. Set your emails out like this and you won’t go far wrong.
Written by Shelley Bowers
