Emails are an essential form of communication in our world. Yet, whether it is reaching out for a potential job or just responding to a work message, many of us feel a wave of anxiety as we type out a response. Multiple drafts, word synonym searches, and screenshots to mom, are a few examples of how much stress can come from one simple email. The purpose of this article is to lessen some of that anxiety by learning some simple tricks on how to write a more professional email.
Don’t Overthink It…Yet
Because sending an email can be so nerve wracking, I often start it in my notes app so it feels like it’s lower stakes. Sometimes it’s easier to just type what you’re trying to say, going back later to edit. Start off just typing casual sentences about what you want to say and the points you want to get across.
Spruce it up
On the paragraph directly below, paraphrase everything in a more “professional” way. Professional can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So, this is where your personal discretion and situation is important. There are several things that constitute “professional” that everyone can agree on, though: capitalized letters, punctuation, fully typed out words, a subject (we will talk about this later!), and a greeting/sign off.
proofread always
After its all spruced up and looking super ~profesh~, REREAD IT! While each sentence may look straight out of an editorial, you may read the email as a whole and realize “wtf did any of that mean?” Make sure your voice is still in it, and not just filled with a bunch of professional buzzwords. Especially as college students, we don’t want to sound like we used, nor are, AI.
rundown of the sections of an Email
Body
- Greeting
Don’t just jump right into your point, make sure to address your reader. This can be as simple as a “Hello”, or something a bit longer like “Hello, I hope you’re doing well”.
- Main Writing
Start a new line, not touching the greeting line, and paste in the final email from your notes app.
- Closing
This is just a quick “the end” to the reader. While staying relevant to the topic of your email, you’re able to get somewhat creative with this. For example, if I am emailing a professor about meeting times, I may end it with “Let me know what works best for you”, but if I were sharing my resume, I would say, “Thank you in advance for your consideration”.
Subject
The subject is one of the most important aspects of an email. Every professional email should have a relevant and concise subject line. It is essentially the title of your message, your recipients first impression. A good subject line helps both you and the reader, as it allows you to stand out among all their other emails so they can easily find you. For example, if I have a business exam in a couple days and I email my professor with the subject line “business”, that email is going to be lost amongst all the other business emails that are sent. A better subject could be something like “MB107 Exam Question”, as this shows the general topic and timeframe. Similarly, if you’re sending your resume to someone, include your full name and perspective position, instead of just “resume” in the subject line.
Recipient
I highly suggest doing this step last! This may save you from a future uncomfortable situation of pressing send too soon. This could be a case of butterfingers or simply forgetting to proofread, either way, super awkward. Thankfully the way around that is to just not put in the email address until you are actively pressing send!
some notes
- Don’t overuse exclamation points!!!!! And don’t be alarmed if people don’t use any. Lots of Gen Z uses exclamation points to sound friendlier or lighthearted. This is not the case with older generations, who usually stick with the simple period.
- Emojis? Definitely not. While it obviously varies in some situations, as a general rule of thumb, I would stray away from the use of emojis, at least at first.
- Take into account what time you are emailing someone and whether it is their personal or business account. Don’t forget, there’s a schedule send option!
Remember: these are just some tips and guidelines I use to help me feel more confident in my own emailing endeavours, not hard and fast rules! Every person and situation is different, so the most important thing you can do is use your own personal judgment and discretion.