Your E-mail Domain Name: What Does it Say about You?
May 12, 2010 by Doreen
The other day, I had lunch with a friend who is in the process of searching for a job. She mentioned that she changed her e-mail address from a Hotmail to a Gmail account because she read on a career website that Gmail makes you look more tech-savvy and “with it” to potential employers.
I’ve always believed that you’re predominately judged by your username (e.g., it’s more professional to have your first and last name as opposed to “surfergirl80”), but I’m also guilty of prejudging domain names. For example, I’ve always assumed if you have an AOL account you’re about my parents’ age and/or still own a VCR.
After doing some research, I found that many of us have preconceived notions about this issue. PCWorld and Lifehacker articles have asserted that the e-mail provider you choose says a lot about who you are and what you stand for. According to these articles, your e-mail address can even tip people off to let them know if you’re a Mac lover (e.g., @mac.com, @gmail.com) or a Microsoft supporter (e.g., @hotmail.com, @yahoo.com).
Perhaps I should change my address from Hotmail to another one. After all, the consensus against Hotmail is that you look like you signed up for your first e-mail account in middle school and haven’t bothered to change it since (which in fact is true in my case). But for now, I’ll just stick with my trusty Hotmail account rather than trying to be trendy. Unless, of course, I was job searching.
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May 12th, 2010 at 9:27 am
Spot on post! I actually recently changed my non-work professional account to gmail from yahoo! I still have a yahoo account for personal use, but that’s it!
May 12th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Get out of Hotmail, now. Anyone in tech has either a gmail or custom domain email address. Here’s how…
1) Sign up for a gmail account
2) Forward your Hotmail account to your gmail account (http://www.ehow.com/how_5146485_forward-hotmail-gmail.html)
3) Create a custom domain account (for ex: costa@costadevault.com, your webhost should have info on/a way to do this)
4) Set up gmail to use your custom domain email address as your default gmail address (in gmail… settings –> accounts and import)
Trust me, anyone with a Hotmail or AOL account is immediately suspect by most who are in the know on the web. Ditch it, it’s worth the time investment.
May 12th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
Interesting post, Doreen. I think Gmail set the bar high for all other domains to jump on board and improve their interfaces. I have sbcglobal (Yahoo) and use advanced design as opposed to the classic design and I believe I have all options (to my knowledge) that Gmail offers. They even have incorporated profiles so you can see other fellow Yahoo’ers profiles and post “what you’re doing right now.” I think there’s definitely something to say for this post but it seems like all domains are trying to compete with one another and be the best with its features, so at the end of the day, does it really matter?
PS: For the record, I still have my first email account (AOL) and use it for all the stuff I don’t care to get bothered with. I’m not 60 but I am an old soul so I’m not sure I’ll ever officially get rid of it
. (Plus I really enjoy their home page news over most sites.)