Today we're focusing on your name and title.
Your Name
- You should always include, at the very least, your first and last names as you commonly use them.
- You may want to indicate a courtesy title that indicates your gender or position (Mr., Ms.), either before or after your name. Remember, your name may not be as gender-specific in other cultures as it may be in your own. For example, "Kari" is a female in Norway and a male in Finland! The recipients of your email may appreciate knowing this information to help them avoid potentially embarrassing mistakes.
- If you use a nickname, consider including it in parentheses as well:
(Mr.) Christopher ("Chris") Landers
This may help to prevent confusion, especially when communicating with others who may not be familiar with nickname conventions in your culture.
Your Title
- Give your complete title. In some cultures, this is considered very important there are those who will want to understand where you "fit" in the hierarchy of your organization.
- Completely spell out your title. For example, don't expect others from outside your culture to understand that "Assoc." means "Associate", "Dir." means "Director" and "VP" means "Vice President". Don't make people guess!
Here's how I do it:
(Ms.) Ruth Marie Sylte, M.A.
Good luck with that Global Tuneup™! Let me know if you have other suggestions!
----------
This post is part of the Manitou Heights Global TuneUp™ series. If you're not familiar with it, check out the Global TuneUp™ series introduction!
Loading ...
Great post! I think that people tend to forget that people actually see the signature at the bottom of their email. I\'m guilty of that- yet I ALWAYS look at the signature of any emails I receive. Often, it determines the priority given to the email. If you send me one message that has an informal signature and another than has everything your business card has on it, I guarantee I will answer the latter message sooner than the one if an informal sign-off. Anyone else agree?
Matthew Murphy\'s last blog post: Matt?s Cuppa Diigo Post 06/24/2008
Great post. It is surprising the amount of times people will omit even their email address in their sig file. I\'ve had to do a lot of digging to connect with people who don\'t list this as many email systems post only the person\'s ID or name when a message is forward for example. Also, I work in a totally international industry and find it quite surprising when international vendors contact us for work and do not include their country in their sig file. Indeed, I\'ve wondered many-a-time in what country the person might be located. One resume even went in the trash this morning for that exact reason! Thanks for the post.
Glad to see this reminder of the typical paucity of information in our signature files (or the very lack of them). However ..... I\'d like to raise the bar and suggest that we offer different signature files for different audiences. I do not need, nor do I wish, to to share *all* information about myself in every single exchange. My email address (if you wish to get in touch with me) and/or my website URL are sufficient in 99% of my daily mailings. If you want to phone me, send me a birthday card or ask for a bed for the night - email me and I\'ll provide detail (or spurn you). Remember that not all of us have an institutional base - and are happy to be free floating souls not suffering from the kind of identity crisis which merits \'signature overload\'. So, let\'s continue to ignore messages saying \"I\'ve got an international student - what shall I do with her?\" signed \'Randy\' - or let\'s urge Randy to tell us who s/he is and, not least, what the hell s/he means by \'international\'! Yours etc
Mike Reddin / ten.nigrivnull@nidder.ekim / http://www.publicgoods.co.uk
[fuller detail available on application]
Another thing that helps is laying out your address as you would if you were writing it on an envelope, rather than writing it, say, on a single line. I have particular problems with the Japanese and Thai addresses, and never know where the line breaks should go!
Isobel Child / University of the Arts London
ku.ca.stranull@dlihc.i / http://www.arts.ac.uk/studyabroad
Thank you for this! I\'ve found that, too, and I\'m even going to add a few more things to my signature (which annoyingly ends up at the very bottom of my reply).
This was an excellent post. Informative, instructive, rational and clear. It frustrates me so much when I get emails with no identifying information. Thank you!
Great read! Thanks so much. I\'ve used the Ms. in my signature for a while because I deal with Asia (and I never know if the person I\'m addressing is male or female).
Please also remind list serve participants to use simple block letter fonts such as Ariel for their signatures and contact information. Non-native speakers (and even native speakers) of the writer\'s language may have difficulty deciphering highly stylized fonts.
Pingback: What Robert Scoble understands about telephone numbers that Chris Brogan doesn’t…yet
Good point, Nancy. The information in this posting applies to Facebook, too. Facebook gives people checking by mobile phone the ability to use a \"phonebook\" based on what you enter in your profile. If your phone number doesn\'t include the country code and area code, it is useless to people trying to reach you that way.
the link to your \'7 characters short\' was a dead link. ?
i also LOVE it when people put their twitter accounts in their contact info. great post!
.-= jessiev´s last blog ..Travel Blog Exchange Conference \'09 - a Recap =-.
It is quite valuable post.It explains the methods to develop our communications.I do certainly try to practice these methods.
A very good post indeed. It\'s a shame about some of the responses. A very good post and an excellent blog. I am now a follower. Thanks, Steve
Thank you!