BoF
CAREERS: STEPHEN SAYS
Is Your Email Address Costing You a Job?
You can send your workplace questions to Stephen at: StephenSays@bellow.press Questions selected to be answered, will appear in this column. Please use the Subject: Stephen Says for all emails. Stephen Viscusi is a bestselling author, television personality, and CEO of The Viscusi Group, global ex- ecutive recruiters located in New York. Follow Stephen on Twitter @stephenviscusi, Like Stephen on Facebook; and follow him on LinkedIn.
Dear Stephen, I am an HR professional, and I have seen a lot of terrible things appear on resumes over the years. Lately, and with shocking consistency, I find that I am inescapably distracted by candidates’ email addresses, so much so that I often don’t even get past the top line of the resume. It has occurred to me that people do not think about what their email address may be telling us, as insane as that may sound. I am serious, though. I have actually gotten a resumes with the emails ArleneTheBlonde@ aol.com (I hoped and prayed that her last name was ‘TheBlonde’, alas, it was not) and hotstud1234567@yahoo.com (clearly, the obvious unoriginality wasn’t enough to dissuade this stud). Another email thing, which I really shouldn’t be saying because it makes my job easier, but which nonetheless shocks me in its thoughtlessness, is email addresses that include birthdays. Let me explain: let’s say I get an email from someone whose name is “David” and then I see his email is David63056@yahoo.com, I now know his birthday is June 30th 1956. I would never be allowed to ask a candidate’s age, and I
never would go out of my way to figure it out, but if someone is advertising it, you better believe I am going to use all the information at my disposal when making hiring decisions. And do not get me started on people who still use Hotmail or AOL addresses. It’s not much different than putting your age in your email. You are the headhunter, you must see hundreds of resumes a day. Am I getting old and cranky or do you think about this stuff too? I read your column in BoF every week, and I figured some people who are looking for work might be interested to hear how HR people see their email addresses. Address Me By My Name
40 The Business of Furniture | Subscribe at bellowpress.com | January 25, 2023
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