CAREERS: STEPHEN SAYS
their birthdays as part of their emails. Some people think they are being sly and will only include the last two digits of the year, but if you see enough email addresses like this, it’s always easy to tell. If you’re one of these people, change it! If you must use some form of your birthday because, let’s say, you need to use numbers and you lack the capacity to remember any numbers other than your birthday, why not use the numerical equivalent of the month instead of your birth year? Again, I’d recommend staying away from the birthday altogether, but by all that’s holy why would you want to give a prospective employer your age? The most ridiculous birthday email address I’ve ever seen--and really one of the most absurd addresses I’ve seen in all--was from an older gentleman, who, for whatever reason, was very into his birthday. It was jaredholmes. jan.13.1942@yahoo.com, and it has been a source of genuine pleasure for me ever since I saw it. Another age signifier that drives me crazy is when people add familial titles to their emails. This introduces all the same problems as having your age, but is even less shameless. My favorite of these was a woman who used MaternalGrandmaMarge@hotmail.com. I mean, somehow Marge made being a grandmother neither cute nor funny. It’s a great email address if the only people who email you are your daughter’s children. In every other conceivable circumstance,
it is utterly ridiculous. I would not hire MaternalGrandmaMarge, but I do chuckle whenever I think about her email address. As far as the domain names are concerned, I’m of the belief that they are what they are. I understand the connotations of an AOL or Hotmail account (and Yahoo is heading in that direction too), but I think those feelings are industry specific in some cases. Either way, I always encourage people applying to get a Gmail account, even if it’s only for this purpose. There really is no harm. I’ll use this opportunity to bring up another one of the anti-All Stars because it’s related. I once received a resume that looked great, and I decided to write the candidate an email. Low and behold, his email was godaddygogogo@godaddy. com. I actually thought it was fairly clever, but I decided to go with a safer choice, for obvious reasons. The lesson here is that clever email addresses are great for friends, but not always so great for getting hired. HR people want to hire reliable, responsible, smart people; cleverness is rarely requisite. The last one I’ll mention is, perhaps, the type of email that gives me most pause. It’s not the funniest, but it is definitely one of the strangest and most revealing. I’m talking about collective family emails like, thejeffersonfamily@gmail.com. You would be shocked by how often I see this; I am shocked by how often I see this. I
42 The Business of Furniture | Subscribe at bellowpress.com | January 25, 2023
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