Siyah Online

Two Things To Keep In Mind When Applying For Jobs

// December 15th, 2009 // Views

I recently had to go through about 115 applicants for a job vacancy, to short list the candidates for interviews. I was sometimes surprised by their submissions. One or two had submitted nothing more than a copy of their National Identity Card. Many of them did not include a cover letter and most of their CVs were inadequate, incomplete or unprofessional.

I believe this should be covered in our school syllabus. After all, the purpose of schooling is to make us ready for employment. And if our students are not even aware of what a Cover Letter is by the time they leave school, let alone know how to write one, then our school syllabus is seriously lacking in the life skills that they are so keen to claim that they impart on the students.

I am not going to write in detail on how to write cover letters or CVs. You can Google and find out. But I just want to stress upon the importance of writing a good cover letter when you apply for a job. I am sure everyone is aware of the importance of the first impression of a candidate when he turns up for an interview. That is why we all make sure to dress nicely, act confidently and professionally when we go for interviews. Well, the first impression at the interview comes much later than the application itself. It is the Cover Letter that is the real first impression. It is the first chance that you get to show the employer that you are both qualified and capable of doing the job.

So always, always remeber to put in a lot of effort to write a good cover letter whenever you apply for anything. You should write a cover letter even if it is an application for something other than a job. For example, when you are applying for a scholarship. You can use the cover letter to sell your case on why you should be selected over the other applicants.

The other consistant mistake I noticed in the applicantions that I went through was the contact email address. These days it is important to include an email address, as the lack of one will almost always be taken negatively. But sometimes it is better not to give your email address in order to maintain a professional image. Can you guess when this might be the case?

It is better not to give your email address when your email address looks like one of these:

avoi@….com
revision.chamber@….com
foot_loose@….com
dhombetty@….com
fatstar@….com
cuvvay@….com
heartless123@….com
x.clusive@….com
i_meet_u@….com
ammati@….com
meekaakubaa_it_is_me@….com
push123@….com
bigaru@….com
incantation@….com
a.i.n.t@….com
exhotic@….com
munty_191@….com
prince_abubu@….com

Of course these are not taken directly from the application forms but they are derived from them. I know that these days we make email addresses when we are very young. And at that time we have a tendency to use nicknames in our email address. Or sometimes we try to make one that is more unique than the next person. Which is fine to use between friends. We can still continue to use our old email address for leisure. But when we go out into the professional work place, it is time to make one that is a little less embarassing.

Here are some general guidelines in choosing a professional email address.

• It is fine to use any free email provider but it does not necessarily have to be limited to hotmail, live mail, yahoo or gmail. It can be any other provider of which there are many available. But care has to be taken to make sure your email address isn’t going to end up having something like address@sweaty.com, address@sexysuzy.com, address@bingbong.com or some other silly ending. If you think the domain is something you will find funny to see on a job application, then choose something else.

• The email address should preferably be your name. If you can’t get your proper full name than it is alright to use initials. For example if your name is Ahmed Ibrahim and ahmedibrahim@…..com is not available then try ibrahimahmed or aibrahim or a_ibrahim or a.ibrahim. You can try to get one of these on all your choice email providers. Having meaningless, exhotic or funny words in your email address will reflect upon you and make you look unprofessional.

• If you are not able to get a desired email, you can put indercores or dots in an appropriate manner. They should not be placed in a position that makes your email address hard to remember or read. For example it is better not to use ib_rahim@….com or ibr.ahim@….com. It is also not a good idea to end with an underscore. There should not be m.o.r.e_t.h.a.n_o.n.e undercore or dot in the email address.

If you can’t get a desired email address in one of the more popular email providers you can try ones that are less popular. For example the Global Mail Exchange is an excellent email provider that not many people have heared about. So chances are that your name might still be free for you to grab. What I like most about GMX is that they allow me to POP my mails using Mozilla Thunderbird. This really increases my efficiency and productivity and it is a far more convenient way to check my mail. GMX also lets users choose email addresses as short as 3 characters long while most other providers ask for a minimum of 6 characters.

At the moment GMX is also running a charity program whereby for each new user that signs up and then check mails again within 4 weeks, GMX will donate $1 to UNICEF to help schools in Africa. So go get your brand new professional email right away.