Just a quick note, to assist you in your noble quest for quality. Where you said

“The later tend to be more clueful as a rule.”

I think you meant to say “latter”. :)

[…] Originally Posted Here […]

[…] A while ago I ranted and raved on how free email services look unprofessional. I recommend Google Apps as a very inexpensive solution. You get a professional looking email address, Gmail, Google Calendar and free home page hosting via Google sites for as little as $10 a year (or free if you already own a domain). […]

Just registered samuelweston.com because of this post. Unfortunately all the weston.net,com,co.uk were taken :( The google apps service is truly awesome. Just found a script to migrate all my email from gmail too! http://www.thamtech.com/blog/2008/03/29/gmail-to-google-apps-email-mig ration/ I’m a CS student so appearing professional in this way is very important to me. Off to modify my cv now.

@Hector: True. Using something like “firstname.lastname@gmail.com” is ok. It’s that borderline condition. Same thing with hotmail, doesn’t work for me though.

And yes, I’d add the professional organizations to the OK list although I don’t really see them that much here.

@Alphast: Good point on the long/hard to spell names. Still, I’d argue that using part of your name or your initials is better than something more abstract.

For example, I wouldn’t use my @terminally-incoherent.com email on a resume. The focus of this blog is more entertainment than anything else. I talk about video games, RPG, rant about DRM, review anime and scifi movies and etc.. I’d rather have the employer form their first impression based on a simple static page with some basic info, and perhaps few links to my projects and past work.

Dear Luke,

I am not sure that I agree with you here. I have a very common and long name in French, and despite the fact that I own several domain names (including the one I am using right now), having an e-mail address in the format of firstname@name.com or anything like this is simply not convenient at all. The best I could reasonably do would be an address like initials.name@marelles.net (which I own).

So I use either that one or my gmail one for cv’s. The massive advantage of Gmail is also that it does tagging and archiving, which, combined with Google Docs and Google Cal is great for job searching.

Google apps offers a really good deal. But be aware of the limitations. The thing I dislike the most is that you cannot really use aliases. [Highly relevant link redacted due to braindead spamfilter; just google for ‘request remove on behalf of’]

Also, there is no way to move a google apps account between domains. That means that if you change your company or last name, you are in trouble.

I agree in every regard, Luke. Hotmail addresses scream “desperately-trying small-timers”. Gmail addresses are borderline, if handled properly, as Hector points out.

I use my uni address on my CV, but thanks for the heads-up re Google Apps. :)

For me it somehow depends on what you put “before” the @gmail.com. It’s not the same “HotStuff69” or “sexyman13” that your name.lastname. Something not idiotic, as Mart said. It’s not the best option, but I would go on reading.

And about your personal domain, I don’t think it needs to be related to your name, just look professional. Like the name you would put to a company if you owned it.

I don’t like .edu mails used for business stuff except if it is related to it. I mean it’s ok for a faculty member doing faculty memeber things, or for a student looking for internships, but I don’t think it works the same for recent graduates. It’s like they are not moving on. On the other hand I am tired of students mailing me from gmail or hotmail accounts, it’s not professional either. But probably we could blame how the university mail works…

One thing more, here in Spain there are professional associations we call “colegios”, I don’t know if it works the same in the US. I would add that kind of email to your list. Somehow it means “I am an engineer (or architect, or whatever) and I am willing to work as one, and keep up to date with my peers”, or at least it should…

I think that even if I have my own domain, I’m sure I would also look unprofessional sending my email address as “mart@thesingaporeangamer.com”. The domain makes it look idiotic. But once I start a family, I do have plans to buy another one resembling my family name.

But for me, I feel that having a gmail account seems good enough, rather than yahoo or hotmail ones. Just have to make sure that the username is not idiotic.

My friends did share a variation of this joke once:

Interviewer: “So I see your email is sexyman12@hotmail.com?”
Applicant: “Err yes…”
Interviewer: “No wonder I couldn’t register that! Mine’s sexyman13@hotmail.com.”