When you begin applying for those recovery jobs, a lot of correspondence is likely to take place over email.  Many times, the first exposure the employer will have to you will be over email so it is important that you are using proper etiquette in your correspondence.  Here are some things to consider:

Email Etiquette When Applying for Recovery Jobs

• Email Account Used.  Do not use the email account for your current job if you are still employed and looking for work.  This implies that you are conducting your job search during work hours and using your employers resources to do so.  This doesn’t look good.   Use a personal email account and one with an appropriate name, such as your name.  It should be anything cute or inappropriate such as “bootycall@email.com”, “jelloshots4me@email.com” or the like.  Also, if it has a year in the email address that could denote your age, get another email address.
• Use an effective Subject Line.  This is what the employer will see in their list of emails and your subject line can entice them to hit “open” or to pass you by.  Do not say something like “Resume attached for consideration”.  It’s best to be clear about what job you are applying for with specifics from the job ad if they are available.  A good example would be: “Resume submitted for Peer Support Specialist position #65432″.
• Don’t abbreviate or be cute.  This isn’t Twitter, Facebook or a text message.  You are applying for a job and need to be sure that everything in your message is spelled correctly, with proper punctuation.  User the spell checker that is built in to your email program before hitting “send”.  Don’t use emoticons, smiley faces, exclamation points and never use ALL CAPS for anything.
• Be punctual.  If someone replies to your email, don’t wait days to respond to it.  This is considered irresponsible and shows a lack of consideration for a potential future employer.  Reply to all emails as timely as possible.
• Set up an email signature.  If you have a degree, credential or some other (professional) letters to put after your name, set up an email signature that will show this as well as have your contact information on it.  If you have an industry-related website, you can also put a link there but be careful not to be too cute here with quotes or pictures that could be viewed as unprofessional.
• Attachments.  When you send a resume and cover letter through email, they should be sent as Word attachments.  This is standard and you are complicating things if you are trying to copy and paste this information into an email or converting files to pdfs.
• Follow up.  Use email to follow up after a job interview and to apply for jobs if that is the instructions given in a job listing.  It is ok to follow up with an additional email and to cc others in the company but don’t make a pest of yourself by taking it any further than that.

If you’ve done the right footwork and used proper email etiquette in your recovery jobs search, they will know how to get in contact with you for the next step.