Don't Make the Hiring Manager Doubt Your Communication Skills

Facebook, Twitter, and texting are fun and popular,("Peggy" instead of "Ms. McKee"), choppy language,
and social media sites in general can absolutely begrammar or spelling errors, or even things like "u"
valuable tools in your job search. LinkedIn is the mostinstead of "you," I don't know if they are deliberately
professional and most productive on the whole, buttrying to be less formal, or if they really don't know
Facebook and Twitter each have a place in yourthe proper way to say or spell whatever it is. What's
strategy. They can both be a source for job leads,worse, I don't know if they know where the line is
and they can be a way for you to contact hiringfor when it's appropriate to be formal and when it's
managers and recruiters.OK to lighten up. The candidate appears to be less
However, the informal, abbreviated language andprofessional and becomes a risk for me to
spelling that people commonly use with these meansrecommend, and for an employer to hire.
of communication are absolutely not appropriateYou always want to step it up a notch or two in
when you contact a medical sales recruiter or ayour job search. In the same way that you make an
health care hiring manager. Some candidates try toeffort to "dress up" for the interview, you want to
be more informal to establish a connection and showput your best foot forward in your initial and
their personality, but it can backfire on them.continuing communication with employers and
As a recruiter, when I get communications fromrecruiters as a candidate.
candidates that include too-familiar forms of address