How Not to Email About a Job

When you're applying for a job or writing to a networking contact via email words matter, typos matter, and grammar matters.

It's important to write your email messages, your LinkedIn messages, and your Facebook messages, just as you would a traditional cover letter or business letter. Here's an example, of a real (really) email that I received from a job seeker:

i would like to put an ap in are u able to fax me a ap i didnt do up a resume yet i am working on it u think we could work somthing out thank you!

The person, I guess, was probably used to texting, but sending a text message to a friend and sending an email message to a potential employer or networking contact is something entirely different.

In this case, it took me a while to figure out what the person was trying to say. The one thing that struck me, besides the lack of punctuation and the typos, was the use of acronyms. Don't use them when job searching, regardless of how you apply for a job.

It's important to make sure all your employment related communications are polished and professional, and to be sure to follow the job search rules when you are looking for a job.

If you don't, you're going to knock yourself out of contention before you even get to the first step in the hiring process. Here's the top email etiquette rules from About.com's Guide to Email, Heinz Tschabitscher.

More: How Not to Find a Job | Top Email Etiquette Rules

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