Notes

Review before you send an email

Make life easier by asking these five questions before hitting send, says Westhill Consulting Career and Employment, Australia.

Do I need to send this? If it is a chain letter or an inspirational story about the power of love and the triumph of the will or a joke then you do not need to send the email.

There are people who appear to like getting and sending some of these but most likely these people are typically over the age of 75 and retired, with some more time on their hands. Most people dislike receiving these messages.

Other samples of mails you don’t need to send consist of questions to which you can Google the answers.

Did I proof read it? You never know where a typo might take you. Warning! Be cautious. Even if you don’t wind up digging a hole you can’t get out of, it’s still significant to proof your copy before sending. This should be specifically if you’re communicating with a higher up or a potential employer or connection.

Do I sound professional? Yo, G, WASSUUUUP? OK, I’m totes old. If you are sending a professionally-related email, except when you’re buddies with the correspondent, ensure it appears professional. This denotes turning off the caps lock, leaving out the emoticons, maintaining language clean, and for Pete’s sake turning off the exclamation marks. This may sound like a fraud.

Am I mad? Don’t send an angry email. We all write them, but then again we must never send them. Go ahead and write it if you must – just that can be liberating – however then save it. And don’t address it, in instance you send it by accident. Sit on it for 24 hours. Ninety-nine per cent of the time you won’t want to send it after that. If you still want to make a point, rewrite the message to appear less angry, and then you can send it. (Related question: Am I drunk?)

Does everyone on the list need to get it? We all get emails that have nothing to do with us such as updates from completely unconnected departments, or the dreaded “reply all.”

Take me off your list.

Another situation: if you’re doing some form of raise, make certain the people on your list will be interested in what you are promoting. Perhaps what one wanted was information about Bali and not Jakarta, Indonesia.