Email Tips

As college students, it is important that we know about proper email etiquette and apply it to our professional lives. There are certain things one must keep in mind when writing professional emails. These are:

1. Never use slang. Not even for personal emails.

2. Always use an appropriate greeting. If you are emailing a professor, for example, don’t say “Hey” or “Hi”. I find "Dear Professor" or “Respected Professor” to be the most appropriate greeting here.

3. If you don’t know who you are emailing, use “To whomsoever this may concern”.

4. Use “cc” when you want to send emails to a group of people unanimously. Use “bcc” when you want to email a certain person and include someone else but don’t want to recipient to see who else you are including.

5. Always include a subject line in each email. It gives the reader an idea of what you are writing about. Keep the subject line concise and to the point.

6. It is considered good practice to start your email with "Hope this email finds you well" (refer to the meme above :P).

7. In the body of the email, do not ramble. Be concise and include the reason you are writing, context, and other relevant details. Most importantly, do not forget to add the call of action you want from the person you are emailing.

8. Before you end the email, thank the recipient. "Thank you for your time and consideration" or "Thanking you in advance" are good examples.

9. For formal emails, the greeting should be "Regards" or "Best Regards". For more informal emails, the best option is "Warm Regards".

10. Most importantly, keep your personal and professional email addresses separate so as to avoid mishaps. You don't want to end up accidentally inviting your boss to a friend get-together!