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Topic: Work or personal e-mail, when applying?
| Author | Message |
| Pen Palette | Posted – 1/27/2006 8:55:39 AM | show profile The scenario: You're a staff editor at one publication, and you want to apply for a job at another. Do you use your work e-mail address to send your resume, or your Hotmail account? Which is more professional, and how much of a chance is there that the current employer will find out if the work address is used? |
| Cyrus | Posted – 1/27/2006 8:59:10 AM | show profile NEVER use your work e-mail to apply for another job. There's just no way I would ever consider doing that. Besides the obvious policy and current job issues it could pose, what's going to happen if you leave, that address is no longer active, and someone wants to track you down for an opportunity? Odds are, your address will get forwarded to someone else at the company and they'll see it, but you never will. People don't have anything against Web-based e-mail addresses these days. And I can almost certainly assure you they would think ill of you using a current employer's resources to job hunt before they'll hold it against you for using a Hotmail address. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| hoffman | Posted – 1/27/2006 10:43:58 AM | show profile But wouldn't a potential employer take faster notice of an email from another, recognizable publication? |
| willwriteforfood | Posted – 1/27/2006 10:49:19 AM | show profile Yes they would, but at the same time they wouldn't want you using their company name and email address for this purpose. Mention your current publication in your email and that should give you the recognition you are looking for. But never use a company email address for job searches, particularly in the same field. ------ "Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job." --Douglas Adams |
| Cyrus | Posted – 1/27/2006 11:15:54 AM | show profile They might take notice faster, but the risk to the person doing it is too great. Literally, you'd have no leg to stand on if you were caught. Also remember that there are some businesses, such as financial services, where they're required by law to keep e-mail messages for years. So electronic communications don't die as easily as people think they do. I never used company resources for job hunts when I was working for others because of the associated risk, and that includes phones. I was lucky enough to launch my company with business already signed, some of which I secured before I actually departed by last employer. But I never held any conversations on company phones or used company systems to send e-mails. For people in the scenario you describe, I believe the risks that the potential employer would frown upon it are greater than you think. They can tell where you work now from your resume, and they might very well frown on you using company time to send resumes and fear that if they were to hire you, you'd do the same thing. Even if you send them during the day from a personal account from the office, there's no way they'll know that you're doing that. For all they know, you had a day off, etc. and won't think twice about it. But they will if it comes from a company account. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| Yam | Posted – 1/27/2006 11:23:59 AM | show profile I agree that you should never use your work e-mail address to apply for another job, but I would add that a Web address might not be the greatest option, either. Some people don't really get the automatic signature added by yahoo or hotmail and think it looks unprofessional. |
| foodlit | Posted – 1/27/2006 12:13:47 PM | show profile Don't do it. I'm always amazed at how many people do send me their resume from their work email, and I always ask for a private email to correspond with. In almost every company, there are firewall settings with key words to look for, 'resume' usually being one of them. You could easily be found out by your employer, and that would not be a good scenario to deal with. Why risk it? As for impressing another publication, that is just silly. They'll know you're their just by your resume/cover letter, and they may question your business savvy if you do use your work e-mail! :) Pam |
| Pen Palette | Posted – 1/27/2006 2:22:45 PM | show profile Confession: I already did it. They wrote back and they want to interview me for the job. I feel terrible that I used my work e-mail--especially since everyone here adamantly agrees it's a big no-no--and I'd like to switch to Hotmail for future communications. Do you think that will confuse them? Will it make me look even shadier? |
| Cyrus | Posted – 1/27/2006 2:46:17 PM | show profile Pen, I don't see any way where you could go wrong switching to personal e-mail from now on. In future correspondence, you might mention that you sent the original e-mail from your work account by mistake and want to keep all future correspondence restricted to your personal account. I wouldn't worry too much about it now that it's happened. While companies do routinely back up their e-mail systems, only the largest have the type of screening systems Pam is referring to and in those cases it's often because of compliance reasons. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| Pen Palette | Posted – 1/27/2006 3:20:32 PM | show profile Thanks Cyrus, that makes me feel somewhat better. My current company is pretty small and definitely overburdened with work, so I doubt anyone's checking the e-mails. From now on I'll be more careful! |
