College Interviews and E-mail Addresses

[digamma]

So, my wife and I both participate in the alumni interviewing program for our college's undergraduate admissions process. Usually we'll be assigned between three and five applicants each fall to interview and write a subsequent recommendation based upon the interview. In three years of interviewing, I've never had a kid accepted. My wife had her first interviewee in five years of interviewing accepted last spring. All in all though, it can be a decently rewarding process.

So, the point of the thread...yesterday we got our first assignments for this fall. We get an info sheet on the student, with contact information and other basic stats--GPA, SAT, intended major, etc. In setting up the interview, we'll typically contact the applicant first by e-mail.

My wife's first interviewee this year is a female named Sophie. Sophie's e-mail address: roxy_28927 at whatever domain dot com.

Sophie/roxy is probably the seventh or eighth applicant in the last few years who has an e-mail address that has no bearing on their name. Sometimes it is something like hellokitty4427 at blah blah. However, they often take the approach of Sophie/roxy in picking a somewhat (dare I say it?) stripper-esque title.

From what I've seen, it is usually girls who do this (though our sample size is admittedly small), but I did have a male applicant who had an address of something like ninjadragon14 at whatever.

I'm sure this is a phenomenon of instant messaging and l33t speak, etc., but wouldn't you think that if you were applying to colleges and people are going to judge you on what you put before them, you might not want your e-mail address to stand out? Maybe you do. Maybe it's a conscious choice. Or maybe ninjadragon or roxy is an important part of what makes you, you. And an important part of what you want an admissions officer to see about you and judge you upon.

But, here's what it does for me...the roxys, hellokittys and ninjadragons walk into the interview a step behind the folks with more normal addresses. I'm thin-slicing here, I know (and for Blink fans, I wonder how different my recommendations would be if I wrote them on e-mail address alone). I'm not sure I can put a finger on why. Maybe I think the applicant is a bit immature or unprofessional or just doesn't get it. I still give them a shot in the interview, and sometimes I'm wrong for sure.

In the end, how hard is it to get a second e-mail address for college admissions or job applications?

Carry on.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by digamma

But, here's what it does for me...the roxys, hellokittys and ninjadragons walk into the interview a step behind the folks with more normal addresses.

Agreed.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by digamma

Maybe I think the applicant is a bit immature or unprofessional or just doesn't get it.

And of the three, the one that gives me the most pause is the last one.

[gottimd]

I agree. If you don't, you can email me at:


[email protected]

[Ksyrup]

We were interviewing for a legal admin assistant position a couple of years ago, and one of the applicant's email addresses was legaldiva @ whatever. I almost decided to give her an interview just so I could ask what qualified her for the title Legal Diva. But that alone wasn't enough of a reason to grant someone with that stupid of an email address an interview.

[Klinglerware]

I'm thinking about doing alumni interviewing myself. For those of you who do them, do you usually do them at your place of business or somewhere else?

[digamma]

Originally Posted by gottimd

I agree. If you don't, you can email me at:


[email protected]

Nice.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by Klinglerware

I'm thinking about doing alumni interviewing myself. For those of you who do them, do you usually do them at your place of business or somewhere else?

I usually offer my office as an option, but if that isn't convenient for the applicant (either time of day or location), I've done them at public libraries or coffee shops (Coffee Bean's or Starbucks).

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

And of the three, the one that gives me the most pause is the last one.

Seriously, tho, let's play the "let's remember what it was like to be that age" game. Did you have any idea how the world worked? I'm pretty sure I used my stupid AOL email address from back in the day just because it wasn't my parent's email address and I still got into any public school I applied to (ok, fish in a barrel) as well as Carnegie Mellon and Case Western. Granted, at that point, being online was a bit of an accomplishment as that was back in the days of paying by the hour to be online.

Regardless, these are kids, yes kids, interviewing for college not someone looking for a big time job. And, most likely, someone (ie a parent or teacher) hasn't told them they should have a more professional email address because in their mind "this is what I'm known as in the anonymous online so what's the big deal".

Cut the kids a little slack- if they're bright and just a little of a dim bulb in the way the world works outside of their little world, that's a little bit of a warning sign, but no reason to toss them off the pile. Everyone had a bit of culture shock heading off to school and started to realize how things worked. If you wanted to find something wrong with every application, I'm sure you could.

SI

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Seriously, tho, let's play the "let's remember what it was like to be that age" game.

In my case, I see this same thing with a sizable number of adult professionals... people who really don't have the same cloak to hide behind here.

If you're an experienced, well-educated professional, and you want a solid salaried position -- I just don't think you include [email protected] on your resume. It's not like this is a matter of means or opportunity -- anyone who has one email address can get another, plain and simple.

I'm aware that 18 year olds are a different class -- but for 28 year olds, I just see this as a warning flag for "lousy judgment."

[Ksyrup]

As a parent, I would have insisted that my kid create a straight-forward email address for use with applications. I've got like 15 free accounts and only use 2. Pretty simple.

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I'm aware that 18 year olds are a different class -- but for 28 year olds, I just see this as a warning flag for "lousy judgment."

Good point. At some point when you are reviewing/editing your own resume, there has to be a judgement call when you look at your email address and say.."Hmmmm maybe [email protected] isn't quite appropriate, I should get a more professional email address".

[sterlingice]

Oh, agreed, 100%. It's why my Eudora is so damn clogged with 7 email addresses. There's the junk one, the commerce one, the "sterlingice" email, the business-like "first initial-last name" one for job stuff, and now 2 gmail accounts, etc. But, again, we're talking about kids here.

And, with all of these people, they see a significant disconnect between the online world and the rest of the world. For instance, if there was a chance in hell that I thought a prospective employer would be able to track me down on here, I'd have deleted my post long ago. There's a reason I don't walk around with a "sterlingice" email address anywhere that matters. In a world where everyone's looking for reasons to fire/not to hire you rather than reasons to hire/keep you, posting 10K times to a message board is a major liability.

Not to get sidetracked a little, but anyone who posts more than, say 2K times on this board, with any significant chunk in political threads will never be able to run for more than local office. Even if you're don't get pegged with waffling and are 100% consistant, which people rarely are, imagine the gold mine of out-of-context quotes an opponent would have if they stumbled across this board.

SI

[wishbone]

I had a manager who read stupid resumes to us during down times, most of them started out with "check out this email address!" The one I remember best was a person applying for a customer service position with email [email protected].

With all the free email accounts out there, it is silly to have one that is unprofessional. As far as these being kids, I assuming that this is a somewhat exclusive school and these kids are devoting a some time into being accepted. Do they show up to the interview dressed as Roxy or a ninjadragon? Then don't put it on the resume or application.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Not to get sidetracked a little, but anyone who posts more than, say 2K times on this board, with any significant chunk in political threads will never be able to run for more than local office. Even if you're don't get pegged with waffling and are 100% consistant, which people rarely are, imagine the gold mine of out-of-context quotes an opponent would have if they stumbled across this board.

And imagine if your (my, anybody's) wife stumbled accross this board

What am I saying, we've got wives here and that turned out well, huh?

FM

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

And imagine if your (my, anybody's) wife stumbled accross this board

What am I saying, we've got wives here and that turned out well, huh?

FM

Nah, my wife doesn't scare me at all. There's no rant on here that she hasn't heard before. Or at least one she would care about. I'm not exactly a lecher or closet racist who only comes out online- wysiwyg. Also, I think the majority of our problems stem from the fact that the wives that have had problems are not ones who found it honestly- they didn't find the board and say "hey, this is cool", they were told by their husbands "this site is cool" and didn't go through the vetting process of lurker -> n00b -> poster.

That said, the voting populace has shown a complete inability to even want to listen to a nuanced argument much less understand that gray area surrounding most topics. They just want the quick damning 10 second sound byte.

SI

[BuffaloHuskey]

I work for a financial services firm and this is our busiest recruiting time of the year. Most of the applicants who are at the interview stage are college seniors, with solid credentials. However, the number of unprofessional resumes (e-mail addresses included) I have seen in the last month has truely amazed me.

My biggest pet-peeve........... Resumes that are more than one page! I don't care about every single job you have ever held or many extracurricular activities you are involved in, if you are a college senior you still haven't done squat. If you are a college student, a one page resume is all you need.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by BuffaloHuskey

My biggest pet-peeve........... Resumes that are more than one page! I don't care about every single job you have ever held or many extracurricular activities you are involved in, if you are a college senior you still haven't done squat. If you are a college student, a one page resume is all you need.

The decision of when to move to a two page resume may be worthy of its own thread.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by wishbone

The one I remember best was a person applying for a customer service position with email [email protected].

I truly laughed out loud at this.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by digamma

The decision of when to move to a two page resume may be worthy of its own thread.

I have yet to see a multi-page resume that truly needed it.

The only meaningful exception I can think of is among academics, who tend to list their publications -- but that, to me, is more of an appendix than the body of a resume/CV itself.

One page should tell everything that needs to be told about your career and education.

[Glengoyne]

I'd hold it against them only minimally, but tell them so that they know that there are email address nazis like us out there, who might toss their application/resume in a circle file someday.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

I truly laughed out loud at this.

Me too

"icepickilla" is the Post of the Day so far.

[oliegirl]

I was friends with a guys, Alex, he used to be a DJ in his college days and his email address was [email protected]. He was interviewing for a job and was actually told by the interviewer that his email address sent the "wrong" kind of message, basically that he was a party boy and hadn't really advanced beyond the college kid mentality. He got upset and ignored the advice to change his email, and after 3 or 4 interviews which went great, but he didn't get the job, he changed it to the usual first initial, last name...next job interview he had he was offered the position. I always think of him when I see people with goofy email addresses...

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Seriously, tho, let's play the "let's remember what it was like to be that age" game. Did you have any idea how the world worked? I'm pretty sure I used my stupid AOL email address from back in the day just because it wasn't my parent's email address and I still got into any public school I applied to (ok, fish in a barrel) as well as Carnegie Mellon and Case Western. Granted, at that point, being online was a bit of an accomplishment as that was back in the days of paying by the hour to be online.

Regardless, these are kids, yes kids, interviewing for college not someone looking for a big time job. And, most likely, someone (ie a parent or teacher) hasn't told them they should have a more professional email address because in their mind "this is what I'm known as in the anonymous online so what's the big deal".

Cut the kids a little slack- if they're bright and just a little of a dim bulb in the way the world works outside of their little world, that's a little bit of a warning sign, but no reason to toss them off the pile. Everyone had a bit of culture shock heading off to school and started to realize how things worked. If you wanted to find something wrong with every application, I'm sure you could.

SI

whoa - you went to CMU as well ?

[Klinglerware]

Originally Posted by digamma

The decision of when to move to a two page resume may be worthy of its own thread.

Yeah, I've been seeing 2 page resumes almost exclusively lately. It's like recruiters and career planning people all got together and decided that multiple page resumes were the in thing to do this year...

By the way, thanks for the reply re alumni interviewing...

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

whoa - you went to CMU as well ?

No, unfortunately- I applied to 8 places and got in at 6. I would have loved to go to their Comp Sci program as it's pretty much #1 in the country. However, the financial aid couldn't get it done- something like $6K in loans on $30K tuition per year.

SI

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

However, the financial aid couldn't get it done- something like $6K in loans on $30K tuition per year.

SI

So you never took this guys advice?

[sterlingice]

Well, as scary as "The Riddler" Lesko is over there, I did look everywhere I could for aid. But, as a white, middle-class male there's nothing out there.

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

And online I'm not exactly a lecher or closet racist who only comes out online- wysiwyg.

[11.10.2005:14:25] SackAttackFOFC: "And online I'm not exactly a lecher or closet racist who only comes out online" <-- so what you're saying is you're a lecher and closet racist offline, too? :-D
[11.10.2005:14:25] sterlingice: whoops
[11.10.2005:14:25] sterlingice: time to edit

SI

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Seriously, tho, let's play the "let's remember what it was like to be that age" game.

That's actually kind of the point. Put me in the category of people who use a wacky e-mail address as a barometer for measuring a potential employee. In almost every job, you need to be conscious of the image you portray. If you are not conscious of that and do things that portray your own image poorly, 99.9 percent of the time you'll do the same thing for my company.

It's more than just image -- it's a sign of brains too. How hard is it to create a conventional e-mail address that you just use for looking for a job?

Coincidentally, we just hired a graphics designer and we loosened up the requirements a bit to accommodate more "creative" types. He had a whacked-out e-mail address, and he's proven to be pretty whacked-out at this point too.

[illinifan999]

I applied everywhere using my parent's email address, figured it was more professional.

[digamma]

I got a new one today that is pretty good (though I'm not sure if it is just QuikSand screwing with me):

foldedkickstand@....

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by digamma

I got a new one today that is pretty good (though I'm not sure if it is just QuikSand screwing with me):

foldedkickstand@....

Will you *please* still consider me?

LOLWTFBBQ!?!?!?

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by gottimd

Good point. At some point when you are reviewing/editing your own resume, there has to be a judgement call when you look at your email address and say.."Hmmmm maybe [email protected] isn't quite appropriate, I should get a more professional email address".

What would be a good professional email address that also conveyed that you were well endowed?

NM, see above.

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

What would be a good professional email address that also conveyed that you were well endowed?

NM, see above.

No my brother, you gots to get your own. Or try hotmail.

[wbatl1]

Is it out of line to ask them why they have a specific email address? Seems like it could tell you a lot about them based on their answer.

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by wbatl1

Is it out of line to ask them why they have a specific email address? Seems like it could tell you a lot about them based on their answer.

"You see sir, the reason why I chose icepickilla was....."

[sovereignstar]

Give me a fucking break.

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I have yet to see a multi-page resume that truly needed it.

The only meaningful exception I can think of is among academics, who tend to list their publications -- but that, to me, is more of an appendix than the body of a resume/CV itself.

One page should tell everything that needs to be told about your career and education.

I''d have to say that CV's are the most worthless things I have ever read. In my job, I regularly scan the credentials of people. The other day, I came across a guy who was 47 years old and his CV was 87 pages. Seriously, you're telling me in the 20 years he's had time to be cited, he did 87 pages worth of research/writing. There is no bigger joke than authors of papers and books. Hell, I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be in some politics/religion book from work in college, so if I can ever remember the name, I need to put that on my resume. I asked questions for a survey, but they said we'd get in the book as contributors.

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar

Give me a fucking break.

Gimme me a fucking break....
break me off a piece of that fucking kit kat bar.

[digamma]

Went to an alumni dinner recently, and one of the folks there requested an e-mail list of attendees. I thought one worthy of inclusion in this thread:

[email protected]

[stevew]

Mistake 7: Nobody is going to check my Facebook page. Don’t count on it. More and more colleges are setting up Facebook pages and want to friend potential applicants. So students should show some discretion about what they post.

Admission officers also take note of little things, like a student’s e-mail address. I’ve heard more than a few stories of admission officers deciding to reject a candidate “on the bubble” because of an e-mail address such as “hotchickatthemall @hotmail”.

Some online services – such as Zinch.com which I have a relationship with – can provide a “safe” and mutually productive technology link between students and colleges.

I was reading something on Forbes(linked from AOL) Anyways, I thought of the icepickkilla and smiled.

[Drake]

In my office, we've started marking resumes that are longer than two pages as "TLDR"[1] and dismissing those candidates out of hand.

Granted, we're an IT shop (and a university IT shop at that), which means that we're mostly hiring support providers and programmers. Our general assumption is that if you've got three pages of resume, you're vastly overqualified for what we're going to pay you, so chances are even if you hire in, we're just your stepping stone to elsewhere.

We'd rather hire a kid with a one page resume who will be with us for 3-5 years than an overqualified pro who will be around for 6 months.

On the other hand, I guess, if we were hiring for an admin level position and they only gave us a one page resume, that would also be dismissed out of hand.

Bottom line here (to bring it back around to the whole email address issue) is that people should know their audience when they submit their info.






1. Too Long, Didn't Read

[markprior22]

As far as the "remember when we were kids" thing...online social networking has come a long way since then. I have a daughter who is a junior in college and a son who is a junior in high school. Neither had ridiculous email addys (that I know of) but both knew without me intervening that you need to have a straight forward address for jobs, school, etc. Anyone who can't figure that out in this age would definitely give me pause if I were considering hiring them.

[DanGarion]

So let me get this straight you only care about the user name, not the domain?

So [email protected] is fine?

[Mustang]

Me and my ex-wife got into a big argument over something like this. I had just graduated college and was sending out resumes and she wanted to change our voicemail to play some stupid song (think 'Believe it or not George isn't at home.....'). I thought it was an incredibly bad idea because I didn't want someone's first impression to be that. Granted, I wouldn't want something like that on the phone ever, but the job search was a convenient excuse)

[PilotMan]

I missed this thread the first time around, and since I am in the job market, it is something that I had thought about.

My industry is pretty much a one-page standard, with the highlights that are necessary for the job, so that it can be scanned for qualifications quickly.

I had given a long thought to my email handle as well, as the one that I use now is well over 10 years old, but since it has to do with aviation (not PilotMan, which would need to go, it's the more benign 3letterinitialaviator) I decided to keep it for my professional resume rather than use the alternate addresses which are simply my name @.

It would probably be better to switch, but since I use one email for 99.9 percent of all communication I didn't want to miss anything important.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

So let me get this straight you only care about the user name, not the domain?

So [email protected] is fine?

I thought me was more concerned with [email protected], but if he runs a valet company I could see it working.

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

My industry is pretty much a one-page standard, with the highlights that are necessary for the job, so that it can be scanned for qualifications quickly.

I would think pilots would have a really standardized resume. I wouldn't think there would be many opportunities to put down things like "Found a way to make the Kessel Run in less than ELEVEN parsecs"

[QuikSand]

Reviving this thread, in substantial part to revel again in the brilliance of icepickkilla...