How do I do professional email?

March 1, 2017 3:52 PM

I'm a computer science junior looking for internships for the first time. I have no idea how to do professional email, and often end up agonizing over how to word a response to an interview request for longer than I prepare for the actual interview.

I've looked at templates online, but they come across as incredibly formal, which would help if I were looking for a position in banking or something but tech has a reputation for being laid back. The templates are often multiple paragraphs long whereas I've typically been writing [one-sentence generic expression of enthusiasm/thanks]-[actual requested information]-[closing], with relatively casual wording ("Really glad to hear that!"). Unless it's a cover letter, in which case I write a few paragraphs. Am I doing it wrong? Or just overthinking it?

posted by perplexion to Work & Money (14 answers total)

Best answer: You're overthinking it. Just write a normal email wherein you sound like a well adjusted adult human being (hint: you did just fine with this post). Ditch 'sir' and 'ma'am'. Keep 'thank you' and 'please'. Fuck a template, just write naturally.

Also you will come across much more authentically if you write an email from scratch for each position, instead of trying to re-use a big rehearsed blob of text, I find.
posted by so fucking future at 3:58 PM on March 1, 2017 [14 favorites]

so fucking future is correct. The tech industry is generally quite informal anyway; so any polite, normal, correctly punctuated, clear note is fine.

In particular, this: [one-sentence generic expression of enthusiasm/thanks]-[actual requested information]-[closing], with relatively casual wording ("Really glad to hear that!") is exactly right for saying yes to an interview.

You're fine. Relax. Believe me. What you've described is good. Much better than doing something overdone.
posted by fingersandtoes at 4:03 PM on March 1, 2017 [5 favorites]

Definitely overthinking. Correct spelling/punctuation/capitalization and you're golden.

I used to set up interviews for intern positions every few months so emailed with a LOT of college students. My particular bugbear: referring to the interviewer as Mr. / Mrs. instead of their first name. Fine for the first time or when you write the initial email, but not after I've referred to the person by their first name.

For example I write "You'll be meeting with Jane Smith, Associate Director of Programming. Jane will meet you at X location" and the student writes back "I look forward to meeting Mrs. Smith." (Particularly as she wasn't a Mrs.) I once had a prospective intern write "I look forward to meeting with Associate Director Smith" which was...particularly special.

Ask A Manager is a good resource for this kind of stuff (and she agrees with me!)
posted by cpatterson at 4:30 PM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I agree with much of what you've said here, especially for email you don't want to go overboard. When I'm receiving emails from students, what I appreciate is:

A salutation (Dear Dr. BlahBlahBlah) -- look up the correct titles for whoever you are emailing, use "Dr./Mr./Ms. LastName" until the other person writes back signing their first name, then you can respond to them with "Dear FirstName"

Short body that uses complete sentences, proper spelling/grammar, and professional language (i.e. no random slang words, text speak, or emojis).

A "Thank you" sentence if appropriate to the email (often will be, but don't randomly stick it in if it's not relevant). This will often be "Thank you for your time." or "Thank you for sending along this information."

Closing and name -- my standard is "Best, MyName" but of course you can do something like "Thanks, MyName" or similar if you prefer.

So, in the example you've given, your email might look like this:

Dear Dr. Jones,

I'm really glad to hear that! Thanks for getting in touch.

Best, Perplexion
posted by rainbowbrite at 4:34 PM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]

Best answer: This might be obvious but I love reading an email out loud to make sure it sounds okay. This way I'll catch any missing words that I had in my head but forgot to type, but it will also help you check for tone. Good luck!!
posted by getawaysticks at 4:48 PM on March 1, 2017 [5 favorites]

Absolutely do not use Mrs. unless you know for a fact that the person in question prefers it. (Especially if you would refer to a man with same degree as Dr. or Professor or whatever. I'm a science academic, so not quite your target market, but it gets me right pissed off when I find out a student has emailed a male colleague using Dr. but me using Mrs.... grrrr! My marital status is completely irrelevant, but my degree might matter!).

Assuming you're in the US, Ms. is a much better plan than Mrs., if you need a title at all and Dr. or etc isn't appropriate.

That having been said-- don't stress too much about the emails. Better to be timely with your replies than to avoid answering because you're afraid you'll do it wrong.
posted by nat at 4:52 PM on March 1, 2017 [14 favorites]

Also, although it seems obvious, professional emails pay attention to grammar, spelling, conventional usage (e.g. capitalization), and are written in complete sentences. Don't use emoji, acronyms (LOL, IIRC, etc.), abbreviations ("ur" for "your", etc.). You're not texting your buddy, you're entering the workplace.

You'd think that would go without saying, but apparently it doesn't. I've seen cover letters and even resumes that would be more appropriate as Instagram comments.
posted by gritter at 5:15 PM on March 1, 2017 [4 favorites]

Sound calm. Avoid adjectives / adverbs and exclamation marks (you're just glad, period, not 'really glad!'). Your reader is busy. Use short sentences.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 5:19 PM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]

If it helps, keep in mind that although the interview situation is high stakes, this correspondence really isn't. I've done lots of hiring at a tech company and can't think of a single time we had a conversation about a candidate's correspondence at this stage. If you miss a scheduled interview or are asking lots of irrelevant questions or aren't responsive, those can represent significant problems. But beyond the basics gritter points out, this stuff is a rounding error in the process.

I can't totally tell what your situation is here, but if you're applying to internship programs at non-tiny tech companies are you are also likely corresponding with recruiters or recruiting coordinators. They rarely have a significant voice in the decisions. In the tools we use for hiring I (as a hiring manager) could dig into the email trail with a candidate but the only times I've done it are when I suspect recruiting has dropped the ball, never as a way to evaluate the candidate. The stakes are higher if you're talking directly to hiring managers, but in that context the primary mistake you could make is making your emails too long or not being precise enough, not violating some abstract sense of proper etiquette.
posted by heresiarch at 7:54 PM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]

My particular bugbear: referring to the interviewer as Mr. / Mrs. instead of their first name. Fine for the first time or when you write the initial email, but not after I've referred to the person by their first name.

There are some fields where it's probably not a great idea for an undergraduate intern to use first names. For a software company, sure, but I would avoid using first names as an undergrad unless prompted in, say, academia or medicine.
posted by grouse at 7:54 PM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]

Fine for the first time or when you write the initial email, but not after I've referred to the person by their first name.

You presumably know this person. The interviewee does not. There may be a broader default to fall back on, but I don't know how you get just from "well, I, this person's peer and probable acquaintance, refer to this person by their first name" to "you, someone who doesn't know them from Adam and is seeking a subordinate position, should do so."

In my experience, students are far far far more likely to err on the side of informality rather than formality (especially if the person in question is a woman or minority). Since informality can offend where formality rarely does (even in more casual contexts, it will usually just read as odd rather than rude), it's strange to focus on rooting out the latter.

But, OP, everyone is right that you would have to put in a serious effort to hurt yourself in a simple reply email. No one pays that much attention to them. Keep it short, sweet, and professional, and you'll be fine. I would leave out the exclamation points, though. I know they're de rigueur for texts and such these days, but no one's going to read a mere period as cold or abrupt in a professional email.
posted by praemunire at 8:24 PM on March 1, 2017 [3 favorites]

Tech, in the USA with USA natives, is fairly informal. However, many people in technology are from other cultures where it is more appropriate to use more formal forms of address.

Figure out the person's correct honorific and use it until you are invited to use their first name. (If they sign their email back to you as Bob, then you can consider that your invite and call them Bob.)
posted by 26.2 at 9:31 PM on March 1, 2017 [2 favorites]

Professional software developer here, 25+ years experience, lots of email interaction with customers, suppliers and colleagues every work day.

The number one rule is Thou Shalt Not Waste Thy Readers' Time.

For the most part, that means:

• Get to the point. Social niceties are fine, but keep them brief and polite. I had better know why you sent the email and have a top-level idea of where you are headed after the first paragraph.
• Don't bury the lede. Open with your most important point.
• Proofread. Spell stuff right. Don't use typographic tomfoolery as a substitute for clear writing.
• Provide all the necessary information. If you can save me having to ask a followup question and then you having to answer it, you've saved us both time and effort. (This does not mean "brain-dump everything tangentially related to your central thesis". It does mean thinking about what we're trying to accomplish and the implications of your email, and anticipating obvious next steps.)
• Use a clear and specific Subject: header. Your target audience is someone trying to find this message, a year from now, in a list of 1000 others.
• In a reply, quote only as much previous text as is absolutely necessary to establish context, and put your reply below the quoted text.
• Send a message To: people who need to act on it or respond to it. Cc: people who need the information in the message, but who don't necessarily need to do something about it. Never "reply all" without thinking hard about why each individual recipient needs to read what you're writing.

Your greeting -- requested information -- closing recipe sounds perfect. I would much rather deal with that than have to trawl the "requested information" part out of several paragraphs of the conversational equivalent of white noise. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but do it sixty or seventy times a day...

I don't recall ever having been annoyed at anyone for being excessively formal or jocular, and I self-diagnose as being more than usually grumpy about email style. However, remember (MeFi's own) jscalzi's dictum that "the failure mode of clever is ‘asshole’".

It should go without saying that religion, politics and anything remotely off-color don't belong in business communication, even with people you know well and know for sure would be cool with it. (You're one careless Cc: of a top-posted reply away from disaster.)
posted by sourcequench at 8:28 AM on March 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Nthing most of the above.

Most work email is nothing to write home about. There is no accepted form of formal or business email as there is/was for business letters. Here are my hints:

1. Don't use text abbreviations (BTW, OTOH, etc), or emoji, or text graphics, even in a signature block.
2. Recognize that readers only take one idea away from an email. Trying to convey two thoughts will fail. Put the purpose of the email in the first sentence.
3. Be careful with spelling and grammar.
4. Include your contact information with your signature.
posted by SemiSalt at 8:58 AM on March 2, 2017 [1 favorite]