Create a Professional E-Mail Address

professional email address

• The username you select is vastly more important than the provider you use. Firstname.lastname@aol.com is preferred to and more respectable than sexkitten2010@aol.com—cutesy, offensive, or unprofessional nicknames are big mistakes.

Domains are important, especially in technology-related fields. An AOL address might be just as serviceable as any other address when it comes to sending and receiving mail but to most people in tech fields it says "Hi. I'm from 1996. What is this internet you speak of?"
More concerning than people using inappropriate emails handles on their resumes? Businesses that don't have their own domain and personalized email. SomeCompany@sbcglobal.net or SomeDude2049@yahoo.com were huge turn offs to readers and many expressed that they would question the professionalism of a company with such an unpolished image and do business elsewhere.

The flood of comments wasn't without dissenting opinion by any measure; many commenters weighed in pointing out that it was superficial and judgmental to make snap decisions based on an email address.
One astute observation made by several readers was that it's a huge hassle to switch email providers so most people never bother. One reader even noted that the hassle-factor could be a big reason why people get defensive:
This issue comes up every now and then, and it always gets people so riled up. People get defensive because so many e-mail services entrench their users - they can't switch to a new one without a lot of hassle. Read the rest of

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