Emails to help get ahead in your career [with examples]
There are lots of studies about ‘email overload’ with some data claiming that the average worker will receive around 121 emails per day, send roughly 40 and can take up to 20 minutes to respond. With these numbers only increasing due to many continuing to work from home, or at least part remote, we wanted to explore how sending the right emails could actually help get you ahead in your career.
Through conversations with many in our network, we have identified 5 possible emails you can write that will support your career development. The great news is that these emails (or instant messages if you prefer) take no time at all, but could easily help you long-term.
We would recommend that you try and incorporate these emails into your weekly working schedule, with some being a bit more fluid and others becoming part of your normal routine.
The ‘thank you’ email
We firmly believe in a well crafted ‘thank you’ email during a recruiting process, but take this concept out of recruitment and try to include it in your everyday working life. People enjoy feeling appreciated, a small token of thankfulness for a particular project, piece of advice or pretty much anything else could greatly improve not just someone’s mood but your working relationship with them.
Once a week, spend some time thinking about who has truly made an impact on you and how. Then craft a small thank you note highlighting this. The more specific you write the email, the more impactful it will be.
We suggest not letting anyone know you are doing this, simply just do it and see the impact it has long-term on those around you.
Example
Hello Susan,
I really appreciate the advice you shared during our pair programming session earlier this week. Your perspective allowed me to identify other bugs in my code a lot quicker and moving forward I will ensure that I close the syntax!
Looking forward to another session next week!
All the best
Eden
An email to your mentor
Keeping your mentors (internal or external) informed on your progress weekly or bi-weekly allows you to form a stronger bond with that person. This will result in more knowledge sharing, more time spent together and the possibility of future opportunities being presented to you professionally and personally.
Summarising where you are in relation to where the two of you have discussed you should be heading will also help your mentor guide and advise from a more informed position on a regular basis, allowing you to pivot quicker and with more precision.
Don’t forget to engage with your mentor in regards to themselves as well, a mentoring relationship is a give/give not give/take.
Example
Hello Alex,
How was the time off with the family! I saw the holiday pictures online, cannot wait to hear more about it when we are on our video call next week, is 3pm still okay for you?
I wanted to give you a short summary of my last 2 weeks so we can dive right into things when we meet.
Goal — Hit my promotion at work from Junior Developer to Mid Developer by end of Q2 2022.
Progress — I am currently learning JavaScript with one of the Senior engineers in my team whilst also supporting the marketing team with landing page development in HTML and CSS.
Challenges — My head is fried, JavaScript doesn’t seem to be sticking in my head as much as HTML and CSS were, I am struggling to remember the basics and am worried it is showing in my work.
Really looking forward to speak with you soon!
All the best
Eden
An email to a former colleague
Just because you are no longer working with someone, doesn’t mean you need to stop talking with them. Networking and speaking with former colleagues have the potential to open up a world of opportunity in the form of new job openings, mentor options, career insights and much more.
A chain email or group chat with multiple former colleagues is all it takes, we recommend keeping the communication light and open, ask questions about themselves and if you wish, take it offline.
Example
Hello Scott,
I hope you’re settling into the new role, once again big congratulations! It looks like the onboarding has been amazing from the video I saw! A few of us are going for some food next week if you wanted to join us, would be great to see you and see what life is like at Amazon!
All the best
Eden
A new contact introduction
If you are part of a rapidly growing organisation or looking to advance your social media network, reaching out to new contacts once a week is a sure way to meet new people, expand your knowledge and read within your organisation or industry.
Use this form of message as a light way to introduce yourself, keep the conversation open and offer support to give them the chance to respond in their own manner.
Try to make a habit, especially if your company is growing quickly. Do this with a few people each week across different departments in the business, when promotions come up, the more people that know you, the more memorable you will become.
Example
Welcome Sally,
Congrats on joining the Data Team here at Peritus! We are truly excited to have you on board, your background is amazing, and I for one cannot wait to learn from you! I have been part of the team myself for the past 2 years, so feel free to reach out and ask anything you need to regarding processes, if I cannot answer I think I can point you in the right direction.
Have a great start to your week.
Eden
A weekly work update to your manager
The last email on the list is one to your current manager, a weekly update that we recommend you send on a Thursday to share progress (or lack of) on your workload. This honest email will give your manager a window into your current projects, allowing them to offer additional support if required. Being proactive in sharing your status will also strengthen the working relationship with your manager as they will recognise more organically when you need help, and when you can be left alone.
Doing this on a Thursday means that if anything needs to be actioned, you still have another day of the working week, it also means if there is a lack of progression on a project, it can be discussed before the weekend begins allowing both parties to switch off during the weekend.
Example
Hello Mark,
It has been an ‘okay’ week, I have managed to transfer all the data over to a single system as requested, this is now in our CRM and editable for the entire team.
I am still having a few issues timewise to set up the new users, I am doubtful it will be done by close of business this week, therefore if someone could jump on this or if we can extend the deadline to Wednesday next week, I should have it done then.
Lastly, please note, I booked off next Friday, so if you need me to action anything please let me know soon. Next week, my focus will be supporting the team across the phone systems and web platform, if you need me to change this, please advise.
Have a great end to the week
Eden
Some of these email examples seem obvious, however, we know from speaking with many in our networks that very few are using them, and practically no one was combining all 5 in their work schedule. The idea behind these emails or messages is to strengthen relationships, create new connections, inform those around you and stay relevant in the minds of those connected to you, this in turn will prove fruitful for opportunities internally and externally.
Feel free to share this article with your network as well as copy the examples and adjust for your own purpose. We hope this brings a little simplicity to the chaos of recruitment for you.
