Writing a Professional Introduction Email

Writing a Professional Introduction EmailWriting a Professional Introduction EmailManagers often write a professional introduction emaille to their new staff after starting a sttte. It is an excellent way to digitally open the door and show you are an engaging leader.If you are a manager or director, we offer these tips to make sure your email is opened (and read). Introducing yourself in an email to staff for the first time must make the proper impression.Use a welcoming subject line thats bedrngnis too spammyGo to your spam inbox and read the subject lines. You will see a particular style of writing that looks impersonal, fake, and generic. This is hardly the way to introduce yourself in an email.For your subject line, be engaging, to the point, use your name, and mention your job title. Remember the importance of interpersonal skills in business.Try this professional email subject lineIntroducing Your name New your job titleDo not make demands in an intro emailImagine how you wou ld feelif you received a professional introduction email from a new manager or boss like thisHi, I am your new sales manager. Here is what I expect of you in the first monthinsert demandsIt happens, unfortunately. Instead of starting off with a list of demands, try introducing yourself in an email by statingHow excited you are to be working together.Offering to speak with staff about suggestions and advice.What you look forward to at the company.Again, keep it brief. An introduction email should not read as long-winded. Assume your staff is busy and does not have time for long email interactions. You are showing respect for their time.Do not make assumptions in an intro emailYou are the new kid on the block whether a new employee or leader. However, there could be those in the company with many more years of experience and perhaps a bit more battle-hardened when it comes to your new company.If you begin to impose your experience through assumptions in an intro email, especially if y ou have not spoken withany staff yet, your new colleagues may start thinking you have no industry experiencesimply because you made false assumptions about the company and your duties.Every person goes into a new position with pre-conceived notions of what will happen. It is a safer idea to keep these assumptions to yourself unless specifically asked for insight, which would never happen in an intro email. After all, that is why the company made you do30-60-90 Day Plan for the interview process.Proofread and send a test to yourselfBefore emailing the entire staff, make sure your grammar is clean. Great Google Chrome plugins like Grammarly are an excellent help.You are writing a professional introduction email to staff. Typos and poor grammar make your staff question your attention to detail. People often assume a brave, impeccable leader knows how to use clean grammar.Next, send a test to yourself. Read it out loud to yourself. If you hate the way your email reads, trust your gut in stinct and change it.Use a simple font and size everyone can readIt is best to stick with what works for a professional introduction emailCalibri, Arial, Sans-Serif, or HelveticaAlso, do not make your resume fonts visible from outer space or only visible through a microscope. Try font sizes 10 to 14.The main reason for this is because font types and sizes appear different on all devices. Large fonts, or worse, typing in all caps, can knock people out of their chairs. It looks awkward, unprofessional, and a bit like your introduction email is yelling. The last thing you want to do in a professional intro email is yell at them, digitally.Watch the tone of your emailDoes your professional introduction email to staff read like this?Here I am Here is what I doOr does it read like this?There you are Tell me about yourself.Emails using the word I too often sound boastful and arrogant. Sure, people want to get to know you in your professional introduction email, but they also want to know y ou are approachable.Try cutting down on phrases that state, What I have done and this is why I am important. These phrases read too arrogant. Plus, staff already knows you were hired for your past experience.Instead, focus on statements of this nature, What we will do together and why each of you are important. You read humble and willing to work together. Humility is one of the strongest traits that make a leader strong and approachableFor career advice on what to write when its time to say goodbye, you can read How to Write Your Formal Letter of Resignation.

5 Career Resolutions Everyone Should Make

5 Career Resolutions Everyone Should Make5 Career Resolutions Everyone Should MakeWhen youre not happy at work, making a New Years career resolution is easy Get a new job. (Or, get a raise, snag that promotion, make it through a work week without using profanity- plenty to choose from.)But when things are going well, you should still be setting work-related goals for yourself. And what better time to do it than the new year?If you need some inspiration, weve compiled five career resolutions that everyone should make. Choose a couple or resolve to do them all- we guarantee youll set yourself up for success in 2012.1. Have an Annual Career Check-UpYou probably think about your job every day, but when welches the last time you really thought about it? Kick off 2012 by taking yourself out to lunch or coffee, and writing down how youre feeling about your career. What makes you happy, and what would you like to change? Is your current job really what you want to be doing?Or, at the least, is it helping you reach your goals? Also do some salary research- is your income in line with your field and position?Consider this process an annual check-up for your career health. If you feel good about everything- great But if tzu siche are things that could be improved, think about how you can fix them this year, whether thats taking on new responsibilities, working towards a promotion, or keeping your eye out for that next position.2. Update Your Resume (and Everything Else)Keeping your resume up-to-date is important for several reasons. For one, if a recruiter or a friend-of-a-friend calls out of the blue with a great job opportunity, youre going to want to have it ready to go. Plus, its a lot easier to update your accomplishments periodically, when theyre fresh in your mind, rather than trying to add in a couple of years of experience all at once.And while youre getting your resume in shape, go through the rest of your documents too- refresh your portfolio, edit your LinkedI n bio, and update (or create) a personal list of accomplishments (a running tally that you dont hand out, but thats helpful for talking points for cover letters and interviews). Also shoot your references a note to say hello- but really to make koranvers you have their updated contact information.3. Add a Bullet to Your Skills SectionEven if youre not adding a new job to your resume this year, you can still add to the other sections Make it your goal in 2012 to add at least one new bullet to Skills or Education. Are there technical skills that would make you more competitive in your field? Tools that could make your job (or your boss job) easier? A management class that would better position you for a promotion?For inspiration, check the LinkedIn profiles of your colleagues a step or two higher than you current position, and think about how you can add their areas of expertise to your own skill set.4. Expand Your NetworkContrary to popular belief, the best time to network isnt when youre looking for a job- its long before then. Why? Having a broad, diverse network already in place will make the job search that much easier- and besides, people tend to be happier to meet you when you dont have that desperate please help me get a job now tone in your voice.And before you say I hate networking and move on to the next resolution, remember that there are plenty of ways to make new connections outside of hitting the industry luncheon circuit. You could ask your boss to pay for a conference that looks interesting, ask a former co-worker and her new co-workers out to a happy hour, or, at the very least, join some LinkedIn groups.At minimum, try to meet one new person every month (youll have a dozen new contacts by this time next year). If youre feeling really ambitions, try Classy Career Girls 4x4 Networking Challenge to meet four new people and strengthen four existing relationships- every month5. Be More ProductiveThere are plenty of techniques out there to help peop le be more productive- check out the Pomodoro Technique, time blocking, and anything on WorkAwesome. Different approaches work for everyone, but I guarantee theres some method or trick out that will work for you, and help you save time, streamline a process, or just generally get stuff done a better way. So, make it goal to try at least four new ones this year, and see what works for you. (For bonus points organize your inbox so youre not spending an hour each day deleting Groupons and sale announcements.)Career advancement is a year-round process, but why not let the momentum of January help kick-start your success? Heres to a great yearWhat career resolutions will you be making this year?Check out more from Job Search Month at The Daily MusePhoto courtesy of David Joyce.

Recruiters Youre Measuring ROI Wrong and This is How to Fix It

Recruiters Youre Measuring ROI Wrong and This is How to Fix ItRecruiters Youre Measuring ROI Wrong and This is How to Fix ItIncreasingly, Talent Acquisition professionals are being tasked with measuring the cost effectiveness of their third party talent acquisition tools. And thats a good thing. If you arent measuring results, yourelikely wasting some money on a current source that could be reallocated elsewhere and yield better results for your company in the form of more applications and more hires. The more sophisticated companies we talk to, at Simply Hired, look at measures like Cost Per Applicant (CPA), Cost Per Hire (CPH), Cost Per Offer, or other measures that look at how much volume they are getting for a source versus how much money they are investing in that source. Still, weve found that many companies that are looking at the right KPIs are still measuring ROI wrong. Its all about the data they are looking at. If you arent starting with clean and accurate data, you can lo ok at the KPI of your choice regularly, but youre still making decisions based off incorrect assumptions.We see two regular themes that lead to incorrect data manual drop down menus and automatic tracking that blends free and paid candidate flow together.Manual Drop Down Menus Are Incredibly InaccurateMany companies rely solely on manual drop down menus to determine where their candidates are coming from. This means that during the application process, job seekers are presented with a question asking, How did you hear about us? and the job seeker is presented with a list of sources to choose from. Manual drop down menus are notoriously inaccurate. In fact, Allretailjobs.com ran a study and found that job seekers choose the wrong source 83% of the time (source). There are a number of reasons a job seeker will choose the wrong source. Sometimes they will choose referral to get to the top of the pile. Sometimes they will choose the first or last option to get through the question. Som etimes the right source isnt even listed in the drop down menu. Whatever the reason is, the bottom line is that if you are relying on data that is 83% inaccurate to measure ROI, your numbers are way off. Improve Accuracy With Automatic Source TrackingLuckily, many companies have moved away from manual drop down menus and have moved to automatic source tracking. With automatic tracking when a job seeker clicks on your job, they are automatically tagged as coming from the correct referring source. Removing self-selection from the process is a key step towards accurate data collection. Beware of Blending Your ResultsBut there are still problems with automatic source tracking. Yes, automatic source tracking does a good job of measuring where a job seeker comes from. The issue arises when you are looking at ROI. Sources like Simply Hired, and many other job aggregators, send candidates to your open positions even when you are not sponsoring your jobs. Remember that ROI means return on in vestment. If you are calculating your CPA and CPH and including your free results, you arent really measuring the return you are getting on your invested dollars. relying on blended rates, you may be misled by the data to invest in sources that arent as effective as they may appear. Think about this in general search you hear about Search Engine Optimization (SEO free results) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM paid results). They are always measured separately. The saatkorn thing should be done in recruitment advertising. The good news is that most Applicant Tracking Systems that have automatic source tracking allow for you to track sponsored and organic traffic separately. All you have to do is ask your ATS or your aggregator partners to help set it up. Here at Simply Hired, we do it all the time. If you are interested in learning more about how you can track results more effectively please contact me at salessimplyhired.com.Read the Full White Paper Recruitment Advertising ROI