Present day youth have to get themselves oriented towards the art of writing a professional email. It is not just an email that they send to their prospective employers for their placement or higher educational institutions for their professional admissions; it is much more than that. It goes on to reflect their very own personality and soft skill competency.
One needs to understand that the email is very much a modern-day tool to communicate an idea, make a request, share information or send out guidelines in an effective and instant manner. The person sending an email will have to get the attention of the reader in clear terms without any confusion and therefore it should be very well written in an appropriate manner. One cannot afford to be fanciful with emails in a professional setting.
Often when I visit colleges for various programmes, I witness students writing in abbreviated formats or messaging formats, which is popularly known as texting or SMS. It is okay if that is their style or pattern of communication on a one-to-one basis through an electronic media, but when they are doing it for their professional growth and career development, they will have to follow a commonly accepted pattern which is expected of them.
The common mistakes or errors that students commit with emails are — not properly structuring their email in a sequential flow of thought, sending it without a basic spell check, writing an email that is too long and unnecessarily worded, lacing their name with designs and choosing a font type and size that are very much distracting to the reader. Many times, the nature of the email and the subject line do not complement each other. More importantly, the forwarding syndrome does not sound good when it is meant to be sent to a person of authority in any professional enterprise.
I would suggest the following points to be carefully considered by students while attempting to write and send a professional email:
1. Think about what you want to convey through the email and form simple sentences in your mind before typing.
2. Do not use the lowercase style of fonts or all capital letters; since both are not considered to be appropriate.
3. Keep your email crisp and short with a neutral style of language.
4. Do not use any background or formatting while sending your email. Always use a white background.
5. Times New Roman or Arial type of fonts with size 12 will be the right choice for an email. Cursive or script types of fonts are not advisable.
6. You are accountable for any email that you send or have been sent in your name. Therefore you have to be doubly sure about the content and will have to ensure that it is error-free.
An email is an opportunity to make an impression on the reader. In an era when the time is considered a very crucial resource, one must be very precise with their emails. No one wants to ask for clarifications on an improper email. Instead, it may get a fast track entry into the bin. So, it is all the more important for students to make their emails effective by giving it careful and personal attention, so that they are impressive and not considered as just another email.
