Using Your E-Mail Address and Subject Line as Marketing Tools

Using Your E-Mail Address and Subject Line as Marketing Tools

Martin Yate CPC
NY Times bestselling author
Knock em Dead The Ultimate Job Search Guide 2012
Copyright 2012 all rights reserved
 

The majority of job search communications are e-mail based, so your e-mail address and subject line are the first things any recruiter or potential employer sees, and they offer a perfect opportunity for immediately highlighting your credentials. In addition, they can become powerful marketing tools that your competitors will overlook.

This Is Your Livelihood Calling

Since your e-mail address is the first thing an employer sees, you want the impression it creates to be professional. This might be a good time to restrict addresses like binkypoo@yahoo.com, and Ddoll@live.com to strictly non-professional activities where they won’t detract from your professional reputation. ISPs allow you to use a number of different e-mail addresses, so add an e-mail account devoted exclusively to your job search and career management affairs.

Your E-Mail Address as Brand Identifier

E-mail addresses act as headlines to tell the reader who is calling and give some idea of what the communication is about. Create an e-mail address that captures the essence of your professional brand, such as SystemAnalyst@hotmail.com or TopAccountant@juno.com.

Names that speak directly to your job are often already taken, and you will be encour­aged to accept variations like topaccountant136794@juno.com. Before resigning yourself, try adding your area or zip code—TopAccountant516@juno.com—or your town: TopAccountantChareleston@juno.com. Variations like these may not mean much to someone outside your target market, but they add information useful to local employers.

 Using a profession-oriented e-mail address serves you in another way: it succinctly introduces the professional you and, because it refers to a job rather than your name, it has the added benefit of helping to protect your identity.

Subject Line as Enticing Headline

In e-mails as in newspapers, the intent of a headline is to grab your attention and draw you into the story, offering an enticing taste of what’s to come. When everyone is buried in junk mail, the right subject line can make the difference between your e-mail getting read and getting tossed.

If you are responding to a job posting, the job title and job posting number are necessary, and you can combine the required factual information with a brief marketing pitch:

Financial Analyst #MB450—CPA/MBA/8 yrs’ exp

Posting 2314—MIT Grad is interested

Job #6745—Top Sales Professional Here

Or if there is no job posting:

IT Manager—7 yrs’ IT Consulting

Benefits Consultant—Nonprofit Exp in NY

Referral from Tony Banks—Product Management Job

Subject Line as Resume

Your incoming e-mail typically reveals anywhere between thirty-five and sixty characters of the subject line, so you actually have enough space to include more selling points in your subject line. To be safe, try to get the “must haves” of your headline in the first thirty-five characters:

Your next Reg HR Manager— EEOC, FLSA

However, an opened e-mail can show up to  150-characters in the subject line. You can make this space work for you as an abbreviated resume by showcasing the highlights of your resume. This example uses 129 characters, including spaces:

Your next Reg HR Manager—EEOC, FLSA, ADA, OSHA. 10 yrs - arbitration, campus, executive recruitment, selection, compensation, T&D

Finally, your e-mail address is an integral part of your contact information, and should always be hyperlinked on your resume so that a simple click will launch an e-mail for the reader’s response.

In a competitive job search, the little things your competitors never learned, like an informative e-mail address and enlightening subject line, can make a big difference. They won’t get you hired, but they just might get your e-mail and the attached resume read with serious attention