Deal Breakers – Are You Guilty?
October 9, 2009 by Stefanie Fontanez
Filed under Find a Job
What’s the biggest deal breaker for hiring managers?
We see it all the time. Someone, maybe even you, applies for a job. They’re qualified, have a great work ethic, and would be perfect for the job – but they never even get a phone call because they have an inappropriate email address.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Over at the popular Clue Wagon blog, a new post asks hiring managers and human resources personnel (you know, the people who hire you) what their deal breakers are. Kerry, the author of the blog, wondered “What are the things candidates do (aside from the actual content of the interview or experience) that will get them disqualified?”
Several hiring managers said their biggest deal breaker was having an inappropriate email address. That means it doesn’t matter how good your profile is or many jobs you apply for, if your email address is raunchy you won’t even get an interview. The second someone sees your profile, they delete it.
So how do you know if you’ve got a bad email address? Ask yourself these questions.
- Does it refer to violence or make you sound unbalanced? No one wants to hire someone who seems violent. Words like killer, killa, shoot, fight, and beat are off limits. So are psycho, crazy, and loco.
- Is it sexual?No matter how vague the reference, assume everyone knows what you’re talking about. There is no faster way to creep out a potential boss then to have an email address that refers to anything sexual.
- Does it have any bad words? It doesn’t matter if you consider them part of everyday conversation – no matter how mild, curse words should never appear in your email address.
- Is it controversial? Again. It doesn’t matter how you view the word – even if you consider it positive. It matters how the hiring manager views the word.
- Does it mention illegal activities? Hiring managers aren’t dumb. They know what 420 means.
If you have any concerns about your personal email address, get a new email address now. Create one at Hotmail, Gmail, or Yahoo just for your job search and make it generic. It’s free, easy and takes about 5 minutes. Then, make sure to come back and update your SnagAJob.com profile with your new email address.
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