Email - Your face before you face

Email is most commonly used to initiate the first contact in business today. Even employees who sit in the same room within a metre of each other still prefer to send emails to communicate non-verbally rather than speaking directly.

Migrants are often desperate to find jobs. they know they have barriers to face-to-face communication. Cold calling is feared. So the easiest way is to use the email to apply for jobs and to send the CV. Email is used to often hide behind instead of making a phone call. As an employer I have seen many emails written by migrants and some make me cry! Here is an example on one that will make any employer press the "Delete" button straightaway.

Just last week I received an email from a migrant who responded to an advertisement I had placed. This is what the email said, "Hi, here is my CV". Do you expect me to employ this migrant who wrote this direct five-word email?

What happened to the basic formalities, format and courtesy? What was the subject? What happened to the greetings, salutation, purpose, body, complimentary close, signature, reference to the attachment etc?

If you as a migrant want to succeed, you better learn to write emails correctly because your email is your face before your potential employer actually sees you. Your email tells your employer a lot about who you are, how good your English is, your manners (netiquette), your business writing skills and above all your ability to communicate professionally. Otherwise you may never get a reply, an acknowledgement or a peek into your CV. Your email will be destined to inhabit the "Trash Bin" for a short moment and then emptied with the other junk emails.

How good is your email wrting skills? Do you know its format and content? Do you agree with my discussion here? Why not practice your writing by commenting on this post. Click "Comments" below to let me know your views.