What Does Your Email Address Say About You?

We are getting ready to do some internal training for our employees on ways they can better present themselves on paper (resumes), internal job bids, and in interviews. In one of the planning sessions it came up that e-mail addresses should (obviously!) be included along with address information on resumes and that the e-mail address needs to not negatively portray the person. Addresses like ihatework@letsparty.com, or partyanimal@hatetowork.com (these are fictitious examples) are less likely to grab a hiring manager's positive attention than things like topofclass@ivyleague.com or topinsales@salesforce.com (again, fictitious examples). Most savvy candidates have several email accounts, with one address used in their job search and others used with family and friends. If you haven't thought about it, you might want to take some time to consider what impression the email address on your resume gives to someone who has never met you, knows little about you, but whom you want to call you in for a job interview.

Now I come to find its not just what comes before the @ that is important. Your email provider is now being viewed as significant. People are now judging you on  the email service you choose--whether it be Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail or AOL. HunchBlog did a survey and found some interesting stereotypes regarding who is using which email service. Techies tend toward Gmail, older, less tech-savvy folks tend toward allegiance to their AOL monikers. Other findings have found that at the extreme if you are applying for a tech job, having a Hotmail or AOL account may totally eliminate you from contention. The folks at Hunch also came up with some interesting generalizations about the type of person who uses each type of account. Here is some of what they claim to have found:

• AOL users are most likely to be women ages 35-64 who have a high school diploma and are spiritual, but not religious. They tend to be politically middle of the road, in a relationship of 10+ years, and have children. AOL users live in the suburbs and haven’t traveled outside their own country. Family is their first priority. AOL users mostly read magazines, have a desktop computer, listen to the radio, and watch TV on 1-3 DVRs in their home. At home, they lounge around in sweats. AOL users are optimistic extroverts who prefer sweet snacks and like working on a team.
Gmail users are most likely to be young men ages 18-34 who are college-educated and not religious. Like other young Hunch users, they tend to be politically liberal, single (and ready to mingle), and childless. Gmail users live in cities and have traveled to five or more countries. They’re career-focused and plugged in — they mostly read blogs, have an iPhone and laptop, and listen to music via MP3s and computers (but they don’t have a DVR). At home, they lounge around in a t-shirt and jeans. Gmail users prefer salty snacks and are introverted and entrepreneurial. They are optimistic or pessimistic, depending on the situation.

• Hotmail users are most likely to be young women  ages 18-34 (and younger) who have a high school diploma and are not religious. They tend to be politically middle of the road, single, and childless. Hotmail users live in the suburbs, perhaps still with their parents, and have traveled to up to five countries. They mostly read magazines and contemporary fiction, have a laptop, and listen to music via MP3s and computers (but they don’t have a DVR). At home, Hotmail users lounge around in a t-shirt and jeans. They’re introverts who prefer sweet snacks and like working on a team. They consider themselves more pessimistic, but sometimes it depends on the situation.
• Yahoo! users are most likely to be women ages 18-49 who have a high school diploma and are spiritual, but not religious. They tend to be politically middle of the road, in a relationship of 1-5 years, and have children. Yahoo! users live in the suburbs or in rural areas and haven’t traveled outside their own country. Family is their first priority. They mostly read magazines, are almost equally likely to have a laptop or desktop computer, listen to the radio and cds, and watch TV on 1-2 DVRs in their home. At home, Yahoo! users lounge around in pajamas. They’re extroverts who prefer sweet snacks and like working on a team. Yahoo! users are optimistic or pessimistic, depending on the situation.

Bear in mind these are broad (very broad!) generalizations. But if I was a candidate I'd take a moment to think about what my entire email address is portraying about me.

"I generally keep the volume on my work computer on mute, only turning it on when my career calls for it… However, sometimes I forget to turn the volume down again, and this has, on occasion, led to the embarrassment of “You’ve got mail!” being shouted by my computer at the entire office."


That’s right; I still use AOL as my personal email provider. I know. I can feel you looking at me with pity, thinking, “Oh my God, what century does this guy come from?” (The same one as Buster Keaton.)
-Sam Barry, “The Daily Sam Confessional: I Still Use AOL”