Email addresses and you

[Austin]

Gents, one of my clients asked me to help recruit an office assistant for his practice. I placed an add and received a ton of resumes to my business email. Some of the candidates are well qualified but what I noticed were their email addresses. I have recruited and interviewed personnel for over 20 years so I scan qualifications, education, experience, etc. Nevertheless, I have noticed a trend lately and that is the candidate's email addresses. Some of them are generic and some of them are bizarre. Here are examples of some of the recent addresses I received:

[email protected]
*****@yahoo.com
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
etc.

Some of them are funny and some of them not. If you want to be taken seriously, create a generic address. I chuckle at some of them but some other recruiter may not be amused. What are these people thinking?

 

[SpyvSpy]

I used to have a band awhile ago called only if your drowning and made an email address from it. I got quite a few laughs from customer service people for that one but I don't use that one anymore.

 

[sol92258]

that's pretty bizarre, you'd think for professional employment, folks would have the common sense to use a professional looking email address. Yes, your email address has nothing to do with how well you'd perform your job duties, but it does say something about who you are, and many employers would not even consider these applicants.


Also, you may want to put a separation between the email address parts, or change the @ to "at"....

 

[dpm802]

Also, you may want to put a separation between the email address parts, or change the @ to "at"....

+1

At least, obscure the identity by changing it to "silly_name @ domain. com"

 

[Commander Quan]

Depending on the job, I would say that some of those people would have all the qualifications necessary.

 

[Austin]

Gents, the addresses were not from yahoo. I just added that to protect the innocent and not so innocent.

 

[mretzloff]

This reminds me of my first day of highschool. The counselors rounded us up and told us that now, since we would be applying to collegs in two years, would be the best time to create a "real" e-mail address. No more [email protected] or [email protected].

I would not even bother applying for a job without a sensible e-mail.

 

[galopede]

I can confirm these type of addresses. I worked for 12 years in IT at UCAS, the British Universities and Colleges Applications Service.

We had many thousands of school kids applying to get into universities and I was always amazed at the email addresses they had! If I was a selector at the unis, they wouldn't be on my list of possible candidates. I was always surprised that their schools never told them to get a sensible address for the applications.


Gareth

 

[lamontqsanford]

I agree, why would one want an email addy like this?

I have also noticed that some people really think it is funny to post randome,stupid, etc, stuff on their facebook pages. Do you really think I am going to hire you when your facebook pages says you like to smoke dope and get drunk all of the time.

 

[Telecaster52]

[email protected]

way to single a guy out...

 

[Obsessed]

What are these people thinking?

They're not.

 

[Bobtrumpet]

Gents, the addresses were not from yahoo. I just added that to protect the innocent and not so innocent.

And yet, if they were valid e-mail addresses at other domains, there's a strong likelihood that they also exist at Yahoo.

 

[Zephyr]

I've just hired three new people, and got a lot of applications, and must admit that when I see an e-mail address like this, the candidate automaticly will be a long way down the list of who I want for an interview.
It says a lot of what kind of person it is.

 

[Go West Young Man]

I think that for business purposes, your email addy should consist of some combination of your name and/or initials and nothing else. And if your address is generic enough to need 4 digits after it, you might want to work on that too!

 

[mantic]

They're not.

This. Although not to the extent of Austin I've done some hiring too and I've also noticed this trend over the past couple of years. It's like stubbing your toe while trying to put your best foot forward....

 

[Sullybob]

This reminds me of my first day of highschool. The counselors rounded us up and told us that now, since we would be applying to collegs in two years, would be the best time to create a "real" e-mail address. No more [email protected] or [email protected].

I would not even bother applying for a job without a sensible e-mail.

Same here.

 

[dklaiman]

So, as the old joke goes, i assume that the person with the e-mail you listed first got the job.

 

[LarryAndro]

A small business owner friend regularly complains about how few good applicants there are. I am going to ask him about email addresses.

His biggest complaint is lack of preparation for the interview. He tells applicants up front to not even apply unless they have already researched his company. Most tell him they are the answer to world hunger, and his company's needs, and they hardly know his company's name!

 

[hifigeezer]

I once judged a scholarship contest in which the applicants had two pages to tell us why they wanted and deserved the scholarship. On many of them we had to take off 30% for grammar or spelling errors. I guess we all need to be taught to rely on proofreaders.

On a more positive note, I get a lot less SPAM since I switched my email address to a random string. Since all my desired correspondents store it in their computer, it is no more trouble for them.

 

[mmack66]

If you need any help, I can follow up with 3 or 4 of those email addresses.