Reading Response - 2
I found the Ten Habits of Successful Emailers to be interesting. The second habit reminded me of an article in the paper that I read a while ago. It was written by a professor that was disgusted by the way that students are writing E-mails to their professors. “Be slightly more formal than you think you should be.” I assume most students are used to the way they type on AIM or in E-mails to their friends, and use the same language to their professors. There is no excuse for that because I feel when writing to a professor, E-mails should be formal and well written. This also goes hand in hand with the third habit. “Take some time to edit and revise your message before sending it.” Typos are looked upon negatively and can be easily avoided with spell-check.
The article Boss's Angry Email Sends Shares Plunging,” made a great point about E-mail behavior. This E-mail refers back to the sixth habit about realizing that sarcasm and irony can be interpreted as condescension, and that using capital letters translates to shouting. The boss should have put more thought into the E-mail before sending it. His behavior resulted in a loss for his company. By rephrasing the E-mail in a more neutral tone, a lot of the problems could have been avoided and changes could have already been made.
I found the Career Journal by the HR Coordinator to be very helpful. I can understand their point of view of having to review many resumes in a day’s time. It can probably get frustrating and after doing it for so long, they learn which ones to instantly avoid and which ones to hold on to. That’s why it is so important to spend time preparing a resume and having it read over by others. Listening to input may help you see something that you missed while looking it over yourself.
Comments
Ten Habits of Successful Emailers
I enjoyed reading your blog. I liked how you applied the Ten Habits of Successful Emailers to the CEO of Cerner's e-mail to his employees. Since we are referred to as the technology generation, I've always tried to be careful with my e-mails, text messaging, and instant messaging. I've had friends that misinterpret my tone or the way I perceive something just by the way they read it. The CEO should have considered the way his employees would read his e-mail and the reaction they would have like posting it on the internet for the world to see. I also agree that it is very important to spell-check and re-read everything you write/type before sending it or turning it in for a grade. I also understand the point of view of the HR Coordinator and the difficult and time-consuming job of reading through many resumes in a day. It is very important to spend time on preparing a resume and I'm looking forward to receiving feedback from this class.
Being slightly more formal in email
I know that as an instructor, I get many emails from students who I have never met that are very informal. Personally, it doesn't bother me too much, and I don't think it really bothers most instructors that much. The real issue is that we don't want students to repeat that behavior with others in a scenario with more serious consequences. It's fine with instructors, but it is our task to point out that you need to be formal in your dealings with people that you don't know well. Although most people don't mind informality, you will eventually run into someone who does, and it could cause a problem. Think of it this way: nobody's going to be offended if you're slightly too formal, so err on the side of caution until you have a better feel for the relationship.
Part of the this issue is that college students and their instructors have ambiguous relationships. We have all had instructors who act like we are all friends, and we have all had instructors who make a very clear demarcation between student and teacher. Until you know where you stand, it can be difficult to know how you should behave. I'm sure some of us have stories about situations where there was a disconnect between what you thought the situation was and what it actually turned out to be. I had a class where the very first thing the professor did was to announce that everyone who wasn't officially enrolled should stand up. After they all did, he told them that they needed to collect their things and get out of the room, because there was no chance that any of them were going to get into the course. Nobody knew if he was serious or not, and there were a few chuckles. Then he just launched into his lecture, and the standing people eventually shuffled out of the room. It was awkward.
Being slightly more formal in Email: Response
I definitely agree that we as students can be way too informal in emails. Students have become comfortable with carelessness in instant messages and text messages and some have carried this on to emails. I didn’t realize this until I overheard a Professor comment that students at Purdue couldn’t write. The reason she made that comment, was because the amount of emails she had received that were informal and filled with error. She even went into detail in our discussion she said that there were multiple spelling and punctual errors. I never really considered myself in this category, but I may have missed a comma here or there. I now try to write everyone with correct grammar, so this will be a habit.
Response
I tend to save a lot of my emails, and go back to read over them from time to time and realize how not-formal they are. They are way to slang to be an email. Even one's I have sent to professors and our coaches. I think that practicing this habbit will create good typing skills in the future for you in the business world. Having very formal email will also help you to speak more formaly and get you away from that slang talk you create through typing on AIM or through texting.
Reply
I completely agree when it comes to writing professional e-mails to professors. I once had a friend who wrote a very informal e-mail to a professor and was then unfairly graded throughout the semester as a result of that e-mail. We must remember who we need to respect and write carefully in e-mails. One more thing that should always be done is to double check your e-mails. I never send out an e-mail without reading once or twice after written.
The angry boss e-mail did result in a loss for the company but I also must admit I feel bad for the guy. He did have the company's best interests at heart, (getting more productivity out of the employees), but it did come off too harsh. A simple meeting or conference call with the managers would have not created such a stir, and would also keep the exchange private. I feel bad that the e-mail got leaked because I bet that was the last thing he thought would happen. Much less damage would have been done if that could have been stopped. With computers these days, everyone must remember that everything can be monitored.