E-mail Address Keeping You From Getting an Interview?

Could someone please tell me what’s going on with colleges and universities? But please, not too many details, I may want to send my daughter there one day (although I am anticipating her attending some sort of truck driving school).

My concern is who is guiding our teachers of the future? Who is showing them the ins and outs of what it takes to be an educator?

How can these schools be handing out diplomas and yet not talking about something that may be keeping their graduates from getting hired: e-mail addresses. Sounds simple in theory.

It makes me wonder if I should be worried about these institutions of higher education. Are their standards high enough? I should have known something was up when they gave me a diploma — or three (by the way, that was before e-mail and indoor plumbing).

Professors of Education spend months teaching their students about lesson plans, yet they don’t have five seconds to share advice on the proper selection of an e-mail address.

How can people spend 4 years in college (or 5, 6 or 7… and if you have been in college longer, I hope they call you Dr.) and then send out an application letter (or preferably e-mail) with something so heinous and inappropriate on it.

I was under the impression that signing up for an e-mail address was simple. I thought Gmail and Hotmail were giving them away like candy. The kids these days with their knowledge of technology should be able to handle this.

Evidently, I must be wrong.

A candidate mails (or, again, preferably e-mails) a resume. The interviewee looks it over. Everything is in order. GPA looks impressive. References are excellent. Degree is perfect for the open position.

And there it is: the cool guy/cool girl e-mail address — the address that was so very funny only days before. Funny to the person who thought of it. Funny on Facebook.

Turns out a prospective employer might not be as amused as your roommate who thinks everything is funny. Examples include partygod@email.com or sororitygirl@email.com. I am sure these addresses served an important purpose at one time in a college student’s life. As always, I am not here to judge.

Since colleges are evidently not teaching this invaluable lesson and the Partygod and the Sororitygirl lack a certain degree of commonsense, I feel it is my obligation to pass on this advice (plus, I get a pet peeve off my chest).

When you move toward the end of your college experience, find a new e-mail address (you know you can have more than one). Prospective employers are looking for someone who is structured, trustworthy and good with kids — not a wingman … or a date.

Candidates spend time choosing which information to include on a resume, what font to use and what color of fancy paper on which to print it. Can’t they spend 10 seconds signing up for an employer appropriate e-mail address?

To read more blog entries by Michael Smith, visit his site PrincipalsPage.com.