We are constantly sending emails – for job hunting, work and even personal purposes. Most of these are carefully crafted to get the message across effectively as well as capture attention. Especially when it comes to a job search, the main aim is to impress the hiring managers enough to want to interview you.
So, when you take so much pain over composing an email message, how do you usually sign off the message?
Fact is that most recipients (particularly prospective employers) look at the signature immediately after reading an email. What’s more, in many cases the decision whether to read an email or trash it stems from the impactof your email signature!
But, what does the reader find? A thoughtlessly typed name at times accompanied by a hastily appended phone number!
An email signature carries much more value than we ascribe it with. It’s your chance to communicate your personal brand to the recipient and offer a unique promiseof value -whether internally within the company or externally to customers, partners and prospective hiring decision makers.
Not only can you show that you are professional and Internet-savvy, but also differentiate yourself from the rest of the competition by leaving a lasting impression at the end of an email. The additional information will also add a distinctive personality to your message, which is otherwise quite tough to achieve.
Signature block
It is quite easy to set up an email signature that gets automatically appended to every outgoing email message. Almost all email providers offer this service, but the challenging question is what goes in and what does not.
Following are a few guidelines on the same:
• Always begin your signature block with your full name (no short or nicknames allowed). This will feature right at the top and can even be in bold typeface.
• Following your name with your job title and company name lends further credibility to your email. If you are job-hunting, you can state your position title like ‘Senior Business Consultant’ or ‘Global Marketing Executive’.
• Providing a professional email address is obligatory. Many people tend to skip this as it already features in the ‘from:’ address field in the email header. But specifying your email address makes it easy to locate especially when your email gets forwarded around to other people.
• State your contact number - preferably cell phone - where you are always reachable. This will make it easy for the recipient to get in touch with you. You can also mention your postal address, though it is not always compulsory.
• Further, try to point the reader to specific areas by providing a hyperlink to your personal website, blog, visual resume, online career portfolio, professional networking profile (LinkedIn/Facebook), Twitter handle or even a book you have written. Else, you can mention important certifications or testimonials but take care that you do not overdo it with too many links.
• Provide a vibrant personal brand statement of 1-2 lines so as to showcase your strengths, passions, attributes or the unique value that you offer. This is a subtle sales pitch and should be compelling enough to differentiate you from everyone else. While this tagline carries a powerful impact, making it too verbose will only serve to turn off the recipient.
While it is essential to expand your signature from the habitual name, it should also be concise and uncluttered preferably trimmed to five lines. Keep it brief, interesting and informative where every feature stands out, insteadof a lengthy one, which only gets irritating. In fact, it often happens that some signature blocks end up longer than the message itself!
Generally speaking, including quotes or opinions is better avoided. Also, stay away from using fancy fonts, graphics, HTML formatting or emoticons in your email signature. It is better to be unobtrusive by sticking to plain text.
Apart from this, ensure that your signature block commences with a delimiter that separates the on-brand information from the restof your message. The customary delimiter is two hyphens.
Therefore, one of the easiest ways to strengthen your communication is to add a brand-building signature at the bottom of your email.
This will make both you and your message memorable!
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