Email messages and landing a job - written by Tom Aaron

The job situation is dismal. We're in a competitive market right now. The economy is floundering, so we get numerous responses from people when we post a job online. We can pick and choose among the many responses we receive simply because this is an employer's market. People who don't match our image don't get considered.

Getting an interview is a major accomplishment in this dismal job market. If you've been looking for a job, I suspect you've sent out dozens of email messages but not received dozens of responses. I'd like to offer some suggestions based on our experience of screening applicants via email.

We work with editors and translators. Our needs may be somewhat different from the needs of other businesses. Still we proceed in the same way that many other employers do. That is, we post ads online and we contact those applicants who sound the best as we imagine them from their email messages. We sometimes ask for a resume; we sometimes simply ask for interested people to contact us to learn more. The first email messages we get when we post a job advertisement tell us which applicants to consider. If you're looking for work, we'd like to make several suggestions for improving your chances of getting an interview.

1. The right job

We posted an ad for a dental editor. Dental editing is a specific skill. You cannot simply use a dictionary and in a flash, become a dental editor. However, we had three people without any experience email us. Each said something like this: I'm a fast learner. I know I can do this work.

These applicants may be fast learners, but they are wasting their time and ours.

2. Reread

We're looking for editors, so the written word is of supreme importance. We generally get a number of emails from people telling us how terrific their editing skills are. They sometimes attach samples of work they have done. Unfortunately, not everyone rereads emails before sending. One particular editor sounded terrific. His attached sample writing was excellent. Unfortunately his email message had three typos.

We don't seriously consider applicants with typos in their email messages unless the editing field is so esoteric that we have few applicants.

3. Salutations

We sometimes advertise for teachers to work with ESL students. Many of our students want to improve their skillset so they can write email messages to English speaking people. We contact potential applicants and start our emails with a salutation such as this: Dear Jennifer.

If we receive an email message that has no salutation, we generally do not consider hiring the applicant. We figure that this applicant doesn't know the basic rules of business English.

4. Tinkering

We suggest that you write an email message with a resume and save it in your draft folder for a day or two before you send it. On day one, you should write your email and resume. On day two, you should tinker with the language. Think of yourself as an editor rather than an applicant. Improve what you have said. Check the punctuation. Look for errors of logical. Then put your message in your draft folder. On day three, reread your email message and your resume. If they look good to you, then send.

5. Formality

We are not looking for people who write something like this: Yeah, the work sounds interesting. Tell me more. John.

We're a business. We expect formality. You're selling your job skills. John's email message does not demonstrate that he has any job skills that would meet our needs. At a minimum, we suggest you avoid non-words such as "yeah."

6. Best possible light

When you respond to our ad, you are competing with at least a dozen other people. You need to present yourself in the best possible light, so that we want to get to know you.

This list could be longer, but these six suggestions are a good start.