America
Informal email address hampers your hiring chances
New York, March 19
An applicant's email
address can greatly impact first impressions and affect one's chances of
getting hired, according to a new study.
Job recruiters may
review hundreds of online resumes for a position, often screening them
quickly and discarding those that are not appropriate.
"We all
have unconscious biases, and first impressions, as we know, are often
difficult to change," says Brenda K. Wiederhold, editor-in-chief of
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking where the study
appeared.
Researchers at VU University, Amsterdam, designed a
study to determine whether the use of an informal rather than a more
formal email address by a job applicant when sending an online resume
affects how hireable the person would seem to a professional recruiter.
An informal email address includes slang, cute, or made-up names instead of the applicant's real name.
"This
study may assist recruiters in becoming more conscious of their biases,
as well as aiding job applicants in understanding the importance of
their electronic identities," Wiederhold added.