Email with Elegance

When contacting recruiters, you should always use effective, simple and natural language so that your communication style comes off as tasteful, mature and professional. Follow this guide to use the email medium with elegance!

1. Use an appropriate email address

If you don’t have a professionalsounding email address hosted on a credible domain, it’s time to create a new account. The email address will need to contain your initials, either your surname or full name, and be free from references to your favourite puns, cartoons or games.

2. Write a clear subject line

A good subject line states the purpose of the email with the recipient in mind. An ideal subject line will be “Application for (Role) – (Your Name)”. Make sure you don’t have typos in the subject line as that’ll make a very bad first impression!

3. Address your email to the right person

Find out who it is you should address the email to instead of just stating “Dear Sir/Madam” or “To whom it may concern”. The name of the hiring manager is often on the internship description and hiring notice. If it’s not, you can look it up on LinkedIn or the organisation’s online directory.

Alternatively, you can also make a phone call to enquire about who you should be addressing the email to before sending it out.

4. Keep your message brief and professional

Your email should be succinct, not lengthy. As excited as you might be about the internship role, avoid peppering your email with smileys, emojis and exclamation marks. This is still a professional correspondence, so keep it brief and respectful. That includes adding in acronyms and slang like “btw” and “fyi” as well.

5. Check for errors

Don’t just rely on autocorrect to spot your typos! Always reread your email draft for any grammatical mistakes and read it out loud, assessing the content from the recipient’s point of view. If you’re worried about blind spots, you can also ask someone to review it for you too.

6. Manage your email attachments effectively

Don’t forget to enclose your attachments, whether it’s your cover letter, resume or other requested documents! If you need to send out any large attachments, it’s recommended that you place them in a zipped folder or provide links where the recruiter can download them from.

7. Follow up promptly

Besides replying to emails from prospective employers swiftly, you should send them a followup note if you haven’t heard from them within the stated period in which you’re expecting a reply.

Similarly, you don’t want to miss out on an interview opportunity or potential internship offer just because you forgot to check your inbox, so be sure to do so every so often!

8. Craft an effective signature

Lastly, your email signature should contain a link to your LinkedIn profile or online portfolio, as well as your mobile number – especially for your first email to any professional contact.