I received a poorly written email a couple of days ago from a young person seeking to join my team. I wrote back to them saying I did not believe they had read my website and that their email demonstrated a lack of ability in being able to type properly and that our clients would require that.
They wrote back and said I was unfairly assessing their written English and that their skills were good and I shouldn’t base it on just an email. I wrote back again and explained that their email was the only thing I had to assess their abilities and that they really needed to read my website, go through the criteria and make application in the same way the rest of my team had done. I then gave them some advice in presenting themselves in the best possible way if they wish to apply for work online.
If you are going to approach someone online seeking work then I think it is in your best interest to present yourself in the best possible way. I’m afraid you did not do that and you’re not giving yourself the best chance for finding work. You say you have typing experience but your email below showed a very different story. I have to have confidence in my team’s abilities and your email did not give me confidence at all.
I don’t know if they were just being naive or whether they really thought that the email they sent was sufficiently presentable in order to apply for work?
When new VAs join my team one of the things I tell them is this:
Please note, that as a Virtual Assistant it is important that you type your emails as you would business letters – no phonetic spelling, caps where they should be, etc. In email people tend to get lazy with their typing but as a VA, you are on show 24 hours a day – you never know who might see your email. Every email counts as possible business promotion! Also, please do create a signature block (how you sign off your emails) so it shows your name, your business name if you have one and any other relevant information – it’s like your business card online.
Previous posts of mine have touched on this same topic in different ways.
http://vadirectory.net/blog/2007/01/22/remember-youre-on-show/
http://vadirectory.net/blog/2006/01/24/one-thing/
I strongly believe that a well written email will go a long way towards getting someone’s attention. I don’t mean clever words and sentence construction. It can be done simply. But I do mean using capitals where they should be, not shortcutting words or using sms style spelling and so on. Just as you wouldn’t turn up to an initial job interview poorly dressed for the role, I believe that initial emails in seeking work should present you in the best possible way.
Candy says
Oh, I could have written this post on some days. I get inquiries on a pretty regular basis from people wanting a job or wanting to join my team as well. It’s disheartening when basic wurds (ha) are not spelled correctly. My favorite one was something along the lines of, “i type fast. do you hire ppl to work for you.”
Ummm…
Not so much.
UnjuppyUnduch says
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links: