You can sell or sabotage yourself through email - (Continued...

A graduate wrote me an email on Friday. It said the following, in the exact sense:

[‘afternoon mr, fufi im still waiting for your respond coz you receive my cv.

kind regards
(name and surname)’]

I was still biting my lip, and trying to calm down, when I opted to read the next email.

The next email which I read was from the employer. I was being asked to arrange the interviews for two candidates. One of them is the very applicant whose email to me you have just read. The interviews are taking place this week.

My anxiety was getting worse as I was thinking about this situation.

1. Must I proceed to send this candidate to the interview without saying a word, which is to say throwing her to the wolves?

2. Must I correct the applicant by teaching her a proper way of writing emails before I give her information about the interview?

What do you think I should have done?

So I replied to her email in this way…

[Beginning of email]
Hi “Name”,

Thank you for your email.

I have just called you now. I want to give you the details of your interview. Please phone me as soon as possible.

CORRECTION:
My name is Fusi, not fufi. Please don’t make this error again about anybody’s name. As a graduate, you are giving an impression that you are careless with peoples’ names. No employer wants to employ somebody who gets their name wrong in this way.
Secondly, I want to show you a proper and professional way of writing emails, especially when you are writing about something as serious as a job application.

1.     Every first word and sentence - as you should know by now - starts with uppercase alphabet;
2.     The same goes for Mr.;
3.     We have sorted out the issue of incorrect name already;

4.     Salutation “Afternoon (name)” takes up one line; the rest of the message must go below the salutation;
5.     Saying “I’m still waiting for respond coz…” is passive, yet demanding; Ask me if I have the latest feedback for you on the job application, something in that line.
6.     Writing ‘because’ is far more appropriate than writing ‘coz.’ Employers are not your friends. You are a graduate now who is in the job market. Coz does not exist in all the official languages. Improve your vocabulary accordingly.
7.     Replace ‘respond’ with ‘response.’
8.     Because this happened in the past, therefore replace ‘receive’ with ‘received.’



Kind regards



[End of email]



Employers take the email, which is a communication tool, very seriously. They use it to evaluate the type of professional/ graduate a person is. Email reveals whether people understand the basics of writing, which is part of communication skills. If the employer gets the impression that you don’t possess this fundamental skill, then they are not keen to interview you.
It is unacceptable that a graduate in a commercial field (not that other graduates are excused from this) is writing an email in this way. It casts doubt on them, on their self-concept, on the education they have received and on their potential to work and grow within the profession.