Is a hotmail address unprofessional for use on a resume?

[profets]

There's probably nothing wrong with it, but i've always avoided using hotmail or yahoo on a resume. I dunno, its just my opinion, but it doesnt seem professional to me.

@gmail.com and @live.com to me sound better.. myself, i have [email protected]

[jordan.]

I've decided to register an @live.com account just for that extra improvement.

By the way, I already own an @gmail.com account which I use as my spam account. The alias is FirstnameLastname but for some reason I am also able to login (and receive emails) under the alias Firstname.Lastname (note the period "." difference) and it comes to the same account. Is this normal or did I do something in the past to link these accounts and just forgot? I wanted to register Firstname.Lastname as a separate account but it's worthless if it's merged with my spam account.

[e-berlin.org]

as stated above its perfectly fine so long as you are [email protected]

Stop posting mu e-mail! :D

[Ruffneckting]

I am sure you could use it to your advantage. Maybe [email protected]? :D

[GreenMartian]

I've decided to register an @live.com account just for that extra improvement.

By the way, I already own an @gmail.com account which I use as my spam account. The alias is FirstnameLastname but for some reason I am also able to login (and receive emails) under the alias Firstname.Lastname (note the period "." difference) and it comes to the same account. Is this normal or did I do something in the past to link these accounts and just forgot? I wanted to register Firstname.Lastname as a separate account but it's worthless if it's merged with my spam account.

Dots don't matter in gmail accounts.

If you want another account, try 'first.middle.lastname' or firstInitial.lastname or firstname.lastInitial.

[Tha Bloo Monkee]

Really it depends with the business. If you're worried get a simple @mail.com or @live.com or something.

On the other hand, I remember seeing a realtor once who had a @hotmail.com on their For Sale house sign! I think it's bad for businesses to use @hotmail.com.

[Singh400]

I think it's bad for businesses to use @hotmail.com.

Agreed, for businesses it is bad to use anything except @yourowndomain.com

[StudioFortress]

An e-mail address under your own domain can look more professional. But this depends greatly on what kind of work you are doing. If your working freelance looking for clients then a Hotmail, Yahoo or even a GMail account will make you look like a hobbyist amateur rather then a full-time professional with their own company.

If your just looking for an IT job then no one would really care.

[Wanderermy]

You could get

[email protected]

:shiftyninja:

[Raa]

VERY unprofessional IMO.

Hotmail : Free.

Your own domain name : What, 10 bucks? Tops.

Don't be cheap.

[McCordRm]

Unprofessional? Not at all.

I can't see ANY company preferring an AOL or Comcast email account over anything else.

Not to mention, we tend to change our ISPs occasionally so it's actually LESS reliable

to have an ISP email address.

Anyhow, I bought my own Domain for the sole purpose of always having the same email

address. Hell, my parents have had the same phone number for the past 40ish years. I

figure an email address should be just as reliable.

[ehlo]

You may want to read the comments in this slashdot posting which covers a similar topic. If you're in the IT industry, it'd almost certainly be worth the investment to get a custom domain for e-mail as many look down on free providers/addresses

[Rudy]

Not to mention, we tend to change our ISPs occasionally so it's actually LESS reliable

to have an ISP email address.

+1 I've had my hotmail since 1997.....and I have no idea how many ISPs I've had since but it's over 5 ;)

[Roger H. Veteran]

I have my ISPs email address since 1998 so it's been my forever email. Everyone has that. However 1998 was 12yrs ago so i was younger and not into being all professional so my username isn't as "cool" now as it was then. LOL After reading this thread I decided to make a @live.com account as that's fairly easy to remember plus easier to say when giving it out over the phone to future employers; that plus they finally started offering POP3 support. I would have much rathered exchange or even IMAP but i guess my ISP only had POP3 anyways so i'm not loosing much. :) I was trying to go for [email protected] so i ended up with [email protected] which is still pretty good.

All i did was go to my ISPs email (which i don't even use anymore but still grandfathered in i guess) and forward everything to the new email. Some stuff like FB and Neowin and other sites i've updated with the new email but everyone else can just be forwarded

Thanks for the reminder!

[D. S. Veteran]

as stated above its perfectly fine so long as you are [email protected]

I get this a lot. I give the standard reply and delete them.

The problem with Hotmail is that it adds a line of publicity to the end of the email, below your signature. I stick with my company email and for outside work, a Gmail account for categorization and the like.

[ranasrule]

If your email is [email protected] then it's a problem.

true dat :laugh:

[Mazhar]

Well, people have so much stupid email IDs that some think hotmail is unprofessional, so if some one has a decent ID, there is no problem. But if it is fine for you, then I would suggest grab a live.com ID just because it is short and easy .

[Roger H. Veteran]

I get this a lot. I give the standard reply and delete them.

The problem with Hotmail is that it adds a line of publicity to the end of the email, below your signature. I stick with my company email and for outside work, a Gmail account for categorization and the like.

Well just a FYI - if you do it via POP3/SMTP using Outlook then it wont show that at the bottom as far as i've tested. I sent a few emails to my other email and they came out just normal. Sending from the website however does add the thing to the bottom which is why i used my ISPs email address for the longest time!

[Gally]

I don't think it matters much but hotmail might not be very popular, the best thing to do imo would be to have @live.com or something similar that people don't care about and have it redirect to your everyday email.

If your in IT than its no harm to have your own domain ([email protected] or similar) but is it really worth 8ish quid a year? If you don't have a website than probably not.

[Edrick Smith]

Personally the industry I'm in I "prefer" to see @customdomain.com as opposed to a free e-mail service. Most everyone who actually is serious in this industry has some type of web presence and has their own website. Another benefit is if I need to hire someone and they give me their card and I want to see more of their work or more info on them more than likely if they have their own domain they'll also have a website with a portfolio of their work.

Now if you're going into a retail, office, or management job then it doesn't really matter. However in the Film / Broadcast Industry I'd say it helps to have your own.

[Lingwo]

I don't think it is bad if the address is good like [email protected]. Personally i don't use my hotmail as it is choked with spam. I use my domain name as mine. Some companies may frown upon it but a lot of people use gmail addresses and i bet that wouldn't be frowned upon because google is "cool".

If you want you could buy your name as a domain and setup email forwarding to point to your hotmail.

[timster]

As long as your email isnt [email protected] you should be ok for now.

Personally I would try to get a @Live.com email. Sounds better to me since hotmail has always been associated with spam, scams and other nonsense. Bottom line is that should not be a defining factor in weather you get a job or not.

dammit ... don't post my email online. rofl

[jordan.]

I am down for registering a custom address like firstnamelastname.com but then what would I put as my alias? "me" or "myself"?? Lol. [email protected]? I am not very creative with names :/

[brentaal]

[email protected]

[Wanderermy]

Damnit!

I tried

lastname.com

firstname.com

lastnamefirstname.com

firstnamelastname.com

They all already taken!

Btw is .me good?