12 Email Etiquette Tips

As a young professional, it is important for your reputation and success to exercise proper email etiquette when emailing employers, recruiters and other professionals. Understand and apply these tips in your next email to a professional.

1. Have a clear subject line. Make it brief, but tell the recipient exactly what the email will be about.
2. Formality. Make sure to address the recipient appropriately and correctly spell their name.
3. Use short sentences. Professionals get hundreds of email per day and have limited time. Get to the point and be effective! Keep the whole email brief and use only a few small paragraphs, if needed.
4. Include relevant details. Skip the fluff, tell them only what they need to know.
5. Proofread, proofread, proofread! Make sure everything is spelled correctly, punctuated correctly and use proper grammar. Make spellcheck automatic before sending.

6. Be objective. Do not offer your opinion unless asked and remain objective to all issues. Avoid any biases.
7. End it politely. Use "Thank you", "Best" or "Sincerely" when ending your note.
8. Avoid caps. You will sound like you are screaming or angry!
9. Use generally accepted fonts. Nothing too fancy or hard to read!
10. Refrain from emoticons or colored fonts or backgrounds. Keep it clean and professional.
11. Beware of "Reply All". Only reply to people who need to receive your response.
12. Be polite, respectful and friendly to a point. Exercise good manners!

Remember, your email is a reflection of you!

7 Ways to Jump-Start Your Success Before an Internship

Landing an internship is just as competitive as getting a job. It's important to stand out from the rest by doing valuable work and participating in worthwhile activities to make your resume better than the rest. When applying for your first internship, companies like to see that you already have relevant experience, but how are you supposed to get an internship when you haven't had a previous internship? Below are some tips to make you an exceptional candidate for your first internship. 

1. Seek out a mentor. Getting advice and learning about someone else's experiences is extremely beneficial. Your mentor can be a professor, school advisor, athletic coach, club leader, an older, upperclassman friend or anyone else you has had more experience in the industry or field that you desire to be a part of. A mentor can give you advice, answer any questions you have, offer guidance and provide feedback for anything you partake in. It's important to hear others' perspectives because it will help you determine what you want the most. Identify someone in your life that would be an ideal mentor and talk to them about your ideas for mentor-mentee relationship. Most people enjoy helping others and would be honored if asked. It is suggested that you create a small contract that outlines your goals and expectations of the relationship. 

2. Attend networking events, conferences or workshops. It's never too early to start making new connections or learn from professionals. Seek out some events on your campus or nearby that relate to your values and could help you learn more about a particular industry or skill. Many events are free, especially on your college campus. Check out your university's website, Eventbrite, Meetup or your local newspaper or magazine for upcoming events. Look into your specific college's event calendar or Career Center's calendar.  There are always plenty of events in the fall and spring during the semesters!

3. Schedule informational interviews. Setting up informational interviews with industry professionals is invaluable. You will get to ask these professionals any questions you want, which can really help you understand more about their company and determine if a particular industry is the right fit for you. Get contacts from LinkedIN, your advisor, a professor or through a university database and reach out to a few professionals via email. Briefly tell them about yourself and ask if they would be available to grab coffee or meet for 30 minutes for an informational interview. If they agree to meet or chat, have some questions ready and take notes. This interview is strictly for more information about their job responsibilities, the industry and corporate culture so take advantage of what they divulge! 

4. Start a blog or personal website. Having an online presence and showcasing your talents and writing skills is super impressive to employers. It shows that you took initiative to do something that you like for your benefit and is not required by your university. Start a blog about anything - food, sports, beauty, fashion, fitness - and put the link on your resume. Your blog should be a fun new hobby that would be beneficial to your readers and be of interest to recruiters. Just make sure to watch out for misspellings or grammatical errors and keep it appropriate! 

5. Join your university's Her Campus chapter or start your own! HerCampus.com is an online magazine for college women that offers great tools and skills to help make you a successful student. You can write for any of the six sections of the magazine or contribute to the marketing, public relations or social media teams. Being in Her Campus shows that you can work well with a team, meet deadlines and communicate effectively. Whether you're journalism, PR, marketing or communication, being a part of Her Campus will be a worthy asset on your resume. 

6. Write for your school's newspaper. If you love your school and want to show some pride, reach out to the newspaper's Editor-In-Chief to cover some news. Pitch them an idea for a monthly column, offer to attend events and recap them, or write features. Just like Her Campus, you will need to meet strict deadlines and work effectively with others. It will also help you be aware of what's happening on campus and who the university's influential people are since they are most likely reported about in the paper. 

7. Create a professional portfolio. Even if you are only a underclassmen, it is important to start compiling pieces now! Get a one-inch binder and start putting in things that showcase your work, skills or achievements. If you made Dean's List, put the letter in there. If you got an A on your final paper, include it. If you won an award or received a kudos email from a professor, add it. You can keep making changes as time goes on, but start it now to monitor your success and progress. This is something you should absolutely bring on an interview! It will make you stand out and presenting this to an interviewer sets you aside from other candidates. 

I strongly suggest implementing some of these tips since they will help you become a more well-rounded, successful internship candidate. If you have any questions, please leave a comment. Good luck jump starting your success! 

Welcome to The Collegiate Scene, I'm Jenna!

Are you a female college student? Do you want to have an extremely rewarding college experience? Do you want to take advantage of all opportunities possible during your time as a student? If you answered yes to all of these, congratulations - you came to the right place! The Collegiate Scene will provide insightful tips that will help you excel your college career. 

Before I start writing my posts, let me introduce myself!  I'm Jenna and I am a senior attending William Paterson University of New Jersey. I am a Marketing major and a Public Relations minor. I always knew I wanted to be in the business world, but found through college that I really love communications too. 

Upon starting my second year of college, I discovered Her Campus. It is an online magazine for college women with numerous sections of content and an admirable start-up story. I related to a lot of the articles and became addicted to checking the site. I read about it's history and was inspired by the founders and knew I desperately wanted to be a part of it. Six months later, my friend and I co-founded our own chapter of the magazine at WPUNJ. This was without a doubt the best decision of my life. I have learned so much from this, have made tons of connections and have attained many achievements because of my work and dedication. 

As a Campus Correspondent for Her Campus, I am responsible for managing an entire team of writers and social media assistants, creating and planning events, directing and overseeing social media activity, working on marketing campaigns with Nationals, completing weekly reports and writing content for the site. Her Campus WPUNJ is now recognized nationally as a Platinum level chapter, which means we are among the top 30 chapters in the world. We receive at least 3,000 page views per week, have won numerous awards from Her Campus Media and the WPUNJ Student Government Association and have been featured in several on-campus news publications and student projects. It has been incredible achieving all of this success and I am so glad that I have a wonderful team of girls that are just as passionate and hardworking as my co-founder and I are. 

Within two months of launching Her Campus, I started two other jobs! I was recruited to be a MTV Trendspotter for MTV Insights. Basically, I contribute news and feedback to a Facebook Group to be used as marketing research for MTV. It's like an online focus group of select Her Campus girls. Through this small commitment, I have visited MTV Studios in Times Square and got paid to watch the 2013 MTV VMA's with them there. The other job - or I should say extended internship - was for a cast member on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Kim "Kim D" DePaola. Kim posted on her Facebook that she needed a social media intern so I messaged her and she told me to come in. No interview! Because of the message contents and my friendly professionalism, I was in. While she was featured on Season 5 of RHONJ, I managed her blog and social media and assisted her with appearances and fashion shows for her store, POSCHE. To this day, I still help Kim out and have made many amazing connections because of this. I have always been into entertainment and am a huge fan of the show, so I definitely consider this to be one of my most unforgettable experiences. 

Through my junior year, I took some challenging courses, but continued to put my whole heart into making Her Campus WPUNJ the absolute best it could be all while jugging those other two priorities and my job working as a Student Ambassador in the Admissions office (my source of income!). For my junior year, I was promoted to Tour Coordinator for one year after serving as a Student Ambassador for two years and was asked to be the Student Representative of the WPU Marketing and Public Relations Committee. 

I know what you're thinking - how does she do it all?! I have excellent time management skills. Definitely something to discuss in a future blog! 

This past summer I took a well-deserved break from this madness, but I'm back at it again this fall with a new internship! I landed a PR internship with InTouch, Life & Style and Closer Weekly magazines. I am happy to report it is paid and super cool! No matter how many opportunities you have, you are always learning new things or seeing things done in a different light. At this internship, daily tasks include updating media coverage reports, creating PR meeting outlines, writing press releases, updating media contact lists and coordinating weekly PR mailings. My most recent fun assignments were creating a press release for Life & Style's 2014 Best of Beauty Awards and a celebrity face sheet for Life & Style's 10 Year Anniversary Event in L.A. next week! 

All of these experiences have made me so well-rounded, confident and academically successful. I am so thrilled to begin blogging about my college experiences with you and hope that you will benefit from my tips and information! I will let you know about all the things I learned from workshops, classes, conferences, networking connections and professors that helped me land these fabulous opportunities! 

If you ever have a question or anything, leave your email in the comments and I would be happy to reach out. 

XO! 


P.S. Read some of my published articles for Her Campus WPUNJ here.