8 Do's and Don'ts of Professional Emails ...

1. Professional Presentation

One key piece of advice for professional emails is to consider it a reflection of your image, which is open to mis-interpretation. Various writers consider it will enhance their letters by using unusual fonts or different colours. Although conveying your individuality is important, achieve it by the content instead of the wrapping. Be aware of sending the wrong message by being over-innovative, and also use standard formats that are easier to read!

2. Project Your Professionalism

As a professional person, you naturally want to maintain and portray that image to your correspondents, so knowing how to write professional emails is a good idea. The first thing that could help you establish a professional image is your email address. You should not try to be clever or confusingly personal, but your address should be a portrayal of you in a professional capacity. If you have an uninspiring name, consider middle initials or a name variation. You are seeking recognition as a professional from your emails, therefore review the ones you receive and the impressions they leave. If you were a recruiting manager, would you employ someone with the email address redhotmama?

3. Be Aware of Humour or Abbreviations

Another way to make emails professional is to bear in mind the fine line between the use of humour or sarcasm. This is always difficult to achieve, especially when applied in the written word. There is always the potential that the true meaning may be lost in interpretation or translation, and viewed as either too familiar or personal. This advice for professional emails can also apply to abbreviations or acronyms, frequently used in modern day texting. It's necessary to remember this tip for professional emails!

4. No Emoticons in Emails

There is a vast difference between sending an email and casual texting on your mobile phone. Among the tips for professional emails is the one that says do not send happy, smiley faces or any other symbol to convey your feelings or emotions. For any professional, this “cuteness” could be considered as being inappropriate to them and for you. If you are applying for a job, for example, a “happy face” is not one of your best references.

5. Be Careful Whom You Copy

Advice for professional emails that is worth always keeping in mind is taking care when copying other recipients. This could particularly relate to a job application to one department and you copy a higher ranked person. It is an action that may apply to copying friends, relatives and others to update and show them your progress. Professionalism is showing degrees of responsibility and trust in matters of a confidential nature. If you are perceived as copying others in your important career decisions then it could result in negative perceptions of your professional integrity.

6. Do Not Let Your Emotions Rule

Here's an important tip for professional emails. We all sometimes allow our emotions to get the better of our logic and reasoning, but a valuable tip for business-like emails is do not allow your emotions to dictate your writing. If you are upset, disappointed, rejected sad or overjoyed, first calm down before you start composing your email. If you write a professional email in an emotional state, then you could have cause to regret it later. The best advice for professional emails of this nature is to write it and then sleep on it before pressing that send button.

7. A Professional Email Signature

As a professional person, you want to leave a lasting impression on a recipient and a key point of knowing how to write professional emails is how to sign off. Your signature is your identity and is left in every message. If you are seeking employment, it is vital to include your name, contact details and alternative phone numbers. This is all part of representing yourself as a professional and finding common ground with other professionals.

8. Grammar and Spelling Checks

Checking the standard of grammar and spelling is a crucial advice for professional emails. Once you have completed your message, review your work several times personally and by a reliable technical process. Verbal and written communication skills are a perceived asset to employers and any professional person. They act as a first impression and perception of you as a potential candidate for a position and your ability to communicate and interact within an organization.

I know this is a pretty boring subject but it is crucial that your online correspondence sends the right message. These tips for professional emails are only relevant to that genre. You can let your personality show as much as you like in personal emails. Do you know any tips for professional emails? Please, comment below with your own advice for professional emails!