Can Gmail Get You a Job?

May 22, 2012 by

Over the last few months I have had the privilege of serving on two hiring committees. As I did so, I noticed that what email address someone had, could make a difference to how their application was treated. Let’s face it, it’s a tough job market out there right now, and people should give themselves every advantage they can!

Would you give an application its due if you see its from ilovecats@hotmail.com?

The emails seemed to be in several categories:

  • Gmail accounts based on a name, e.g. jon.doe@gmail.com
  • Some kind of account that was a play on words e.g. ilovecats@hotmail.com or panther77@gmail.com
  • Shared accounts, e.g. jackandjane@rocket.com
  • Aol accounts… say no more….

What do you think, can your email address be helpful or harmful when you are looking for a job?

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  • John M

    I don’t think the domain really matters, it’s what’s in front of the @ that’s important. Whenever I’ve created an e-mail account with aol, yahoo, hotmail, gmail, etc I’ve always tried to have some representation of my name, ie: first name, last name or first initial, last name, etc. I’ve been lucky to always come up with a combination that didn’t involve the use of numbers such as johnsmith89765. My 2 cents worth.