A great article this weekend about how to make sure your email gets read.

We’re inundated with email these days. A lot of it spam. How can you make sure your email gets read?

This is especially important for job seekers. Especially if you’re sending in a job application, what can you do to make it more likely the hiring manager will open an read you email?

I’ll summarize the advice list after the jump, but I encourage you to read the entire article for detailed tips.

1. Keep it short.
2. Make the subject line a summary.
3. Start and end with “you.”
4. Only one topic per message.
5. Use an appropriate tone.
6. Don’t send extra copies.
7. Respect spelling and grammar.
8. Remember it’s not private.
9. Email isn’t for arguments.
10. Mind those threads.

I can think of instances where each of these points have direct application for job seekers.

Read the whole thing here.

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2. On Email Blackouts…
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This guest post is contributed by Kate Willson, who writes on the topics of top online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: katewillson2@gmail.com.

The most important thing to keep in mind when you’re unemployed is this: until you have a hiring contract in hand, the job search is your job. By this I mean that as you should treat your job search just like every other job you’ve worked. Sure, you’re not getting paid for it, but one day it will lead to another paycheck, so you should approach it seriously and in an organized fashion. If you can keep yourself in a professional mindset while you look for a job, you’ll have a greater chance at succeeding. Here are a few tips to help you as look for another job.

Adjust Your Attitude

Because you want to approach the job search as if it were your job, you should try to maintain as professional an attitude as possible. Don’t let yourself get down into an unemployment rut. Try to maintain whatever routine you followed before you lost your previous job, or you should establish a new routine that will keep you focused. Wake up at the same time every morning and dress for work. You don’t have to put on a tie or high heels, but certainly be sure you dress in a way that will keep you focused on your objectives. In other words, it’s easier to lounge around the house all day if you never change out of your pajamas.

Make a List of Objectives

Just as you would have objectives to meet at a real job, so should you have objectives to meet for your job search. Think of how long you can live comfortably without a job, and then figure out what you need to do in order to find a job by the end of that window. Ideally, you’ll be sending out a certain number of applications and resumes each week. You’ll want to figure out if you’re going to stay within the same career track or try to branch out.

Organize Your Tasks

At your old job, you had a routine you most likely followed each day, so do the same for your job search. For example, in the morning you could spend a few hours browsing and researching potential job openings. Take an hour to follow up with contacts in your network who might be able to help you. Break for lunch and then get to work on the applications you’ve got in-progress. Finally, end the day by sending out a batch and adding it to your tally of active applications. Every time the numbers rise in your spreadsheet, you’re getting closer to your goal.

Meet Your Goals

Whatever you do, make sure you meet your goals each week. This might mean that you have to ‘work overtime,’ but remember, the extra effort is important to finally getting that paycheck. Likewise, if you hear of a hot lead, then you might want to turn all of your attention on that. You’ll want to constantly evaluate your goals and how you’re achieving them. This will help you adjust your routine as conditions in the job market change.

Answer to a Supervisor

Finally, make sure you’re accountable and have to answer to a ‘supervisor’ each week. Ask one of your friends or your spouse of a family member to check on you Friday after ‘work.’ Sometimes simply talking about your process to another person can help motivate you or lead to your coming up with a new plan.

Related posts:

1. Job Search Hack- Organize Your Search Using The Rule Of Thirds
2. A Radical Job Search Strategy – Offering Bounties
3. The 5 Dirty Little Secrets Of A Successful Job Search

Recently, we discussed ways to prepare for/manage work during the vacation season.

The website unclutterer.com has another idea for helping you manage your tendency to veg out in front of your computer during holiday’s/weekends. Let’s face it, we’re all champion procrastinators. We sit down with work to do… but an hour later, we’ve read blogs, checked stocks, done everything, in other words, except the work we came to do.

How to discipline yourself? How about NOT plugging your laptop in?

Limit yourself to the life of your laptop battery. Such self-imposed scarcity of time and juice might encourage discipline: you’ll work as much as you can because your chances to do so are limited.

More importantly, this exercise in restraint can cure you of the bad habit I’m most guilty of: checking on work every 5 minutes even though I don’t have to. The limited battery power will encourage you to work only when necessary and to check on work at more reasonable (and less impulsive) intervals.

I was a little stunned that my Saturday morning number was 35 percent. My first thought was that I must have a lame battery. A good battery wouldn’t be on 35 percent in just a day! Except, when I stopped to calculate my usage on Friday, I realized I had easily spent three hours on my laptop. My battery was working fine, it was user consumption that was to blame.

Snip.

My computer officially died with 20 hours to go before work started on Monday.

I don’t like the idea that I used all of my computer’s battery power before the three-day weekend had come to a close. What I took from it is that I’m having difficulty drawing the line between work and free time. I think about work constantly and would like to be able to turn those thoughts off and relax at least once in a while.

So, for the duration of the month, I’m going to have battery-powered laptop weekends. Work matters a great deal to me, but so does taking advantage of my free time. I hope that this process helps me to better prioritize my time away from work and relax and rejuvenate to make my official work time more productive.

Related posts:

1. TLC For the Batteries in Your Life
2. Road Warrior Post Deux: Laptop Samurai Tricks
3. Top 10 Checklist To Prepare For Your Vacation From Work

There’s been a lot of talk this year that the vacation season won’t be the same. You hear about families staying home rather than break the bank to pay for the gas necessary to drive to Wally World. Also, I’ve seen a couple of cable news stories about how vacations are increasingly culturally passe in this work-all-the-time world. And then there are the economic concerns. Might not want to take a long vacation if you smell layoffs coming.

But if you are taking some time off, we are now officially entering the season to do so. Here’s a quick checklist of things you should do to prepare yourself (and your boss; and your coworkers) for a restful and successful vacation.

1. Decide now if you’re going to do any work while you’re on vacation. Careerbuilder says 1 in 4 workers plan to do some work while on vacation. This is an all or nothing decision. It’s like being “kinda pregnant.” You are or you aren’t. Doing things halfway doesn’t work out well. If you want to make a clean break, you should dot all your I’s and cross all your T’s now. If you’re going to be available in certain situations, you have to make sure your lines of communication are open. Set the table now so there is no confusion.
2. If you ARE going to be in touch (even if just to monitor things) while away, make sure to check the lay of the land ahead of time. Don’t blindly assume the lodge or Grandma Sarah’s house will have internet access… or even cell phone coverage! Inquire ahead of time if you need specific tools available.
3. Whatever your ultimate decision, make sure the boundaries you settle on are widely known and understood. Under what threat of emergency are you willing to be contacted, and at what number?
4. Try to bring all open projects to a conclusion. This makes it easier for your co-workers (they’re not waiting on your return to move things forward) and it makes things easier for you. You’ll be much happier to come back to a clean slate.
5. To that end, clean your desk. Everything must go! Answer all outstanding voicemails. Clear out your email inbox. If you make a clean break, it will be easier to hit the ground running when you come back: anything on your plate when you return will be new business because you closed all old business out before you left.
6. Right now, before you leave, make a to-do list of things you expect you’ll need to tackle when you get back. Don’t rely on your memory after a week at the beach to remember about that important lunch appointment the Tuesday after you get back.
7. Set your email out of office autoreplies. Click here for step by step instructions on how to do so.
8. If someone is covering for you, make sure all of your usual contacts know who this person is and how they can be contacted.
9. If someone is covering for you, meet with them and set up a plan. Eliminate any chance of surprise. Make clear what they can expect and what you’ll expect when you get back.
10. Don’t feel guilty. No matter what the modern work ethos is, everyone deserves a vacation now and again. Even you.

Related posts:

1. Prepare Your Desk (To Be Away From Your Desk)
2. Managing Work While On Vacation – Part 2
3. Ask Brian: How Long To Wait For Approval On A Vacation Request

Also from WebWorkerDaily today:

If you exist in a work environment where you have to manage multiple shipments every day (if you know the FedEx and UPS AND DHL delivery guys by name) then I’ve got a website that will completely rock your world.

TrackMyShipments.com will do exactly that: track multiple shipments in real time in a neat, organized way. Use whatever shipper you want. The software tells you where the package is, when it’s due, where it came from, all the important stuff. Better yet, you don’t have to do any complicated entering of data yourself it’s almost completely automated:

Here’s how it works: simply forward them the shipping confirmation email that contains the tracking number to track@trackmyshipments.com. Then, the utility identifies your email address, the shipping address, and the tracking number. Simply log into the website and see all your shipments in one window.

Oh, and did I mention it’s free?

Related posts:

1. On Email Blackouts…
2. Professional Email Addresses And Why They’re A Good Idea
3. More Ways To Browse The Web At Work (Without Getting Caught)

With tax season coming up, I’ll be looking to highlight some financial and organizational tips over the next few months. First up, I have a tip I heard years ago that I don’t think has gotten wide currency:

You Should Create And Keep Your Own Personnel File

Every employer does it. Your personnel file is a quick and handy reference for your boss. It not only keeps track of every important legal piece of paper relating to you, but provides a quick summary of who you are and what you do/what you’re owed/how you’re performing.

Creating your own personnel file at home can be an invaluable tool that does just the same for you, but in reverse. In one place you can quickly reference anything you need related to your career. Whenever you have to do business of any kind with your current or future employer, you won’t be standing there empty handed when they pull out your file and have full records of your history. You’ll have a file of your own and can meet fact with fact, paper with paper.

What is the utility of this? I think you’ll understand when you see what your personal personnel file should include:

Your Personal Personnel File Should Include

• Your contracts. This means a copy of your signed contract that got you hired at your current job. Also, copies of your contracts at any and all previous jobs. There can never be any confusion about what you’re owed, what is expected of you, what was promised to you, or when and how your job will end… so long as you keep your own copy of all your contracts.
• Your most recent evaluation reports. Good or bad, you should request copies. If anyone starts to question your performance, your employers’ own evaluation of you work, in their own words, is invaluable. And if your performance was poor in the past, keeping lousy reviews can be helpful to demonstrate growth or improvement.
• Anything legal you sign at work. Such as: a noncompete agreement; a confidentiality agreement; an agreement relating to a company-provided property such as a car or a cell phone or a laptop; liability waivers; etc.
• Your W-2 forms and any related employment tax documents. Going back at least 3 years. Other possible documents to include: 1099s and W-4s (the Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificates).
• Your benefits/retirement summary. And any other documents that highlight all the perks and benefits you’re entitled to under your contract.
• Your health and insurance benefits summary. As an addendum to the above, if you’ve got an outline of the health benefits you are due, make a copy and throw it in here also. You should obviously keep a separate health records file for yourself and your doctor, but a summary sheet can be included in your personnel file for reference purposes. This is especially useful if you lose your job… how much longer are you entitled to your benefits?
• Your financial contributions. To retirement (401k, IRA) or health insurance (life insurance), broken down monthly or yearly or both. How much have you kicked in? How much is your employer required to kick in? Have they done so? You might have to do this by hand yourself, but it’s also a good reference for you to help keep a gauge on how you’re doing with your long-term financial goals.
• Any formal proposals/memos/agreements you make with or submit to your employer. For example, a raise request, the proposal to create a new position/project or even a proposal to work from home.
• Grades/transcripts from college. Especially for younger professionals.
• Proof of attendance/completion of any training/seminar.
• Copies of awards or citations.
• Written references from previous employers or others related to your career.
• Termination documents from previous jobs. If only to prove/explain the circumstances of your leaving a previous position, these are good things to keep copies of.
• Business expenses. Travel expenses, mileage reports, rental car receipts, lunches, paper clips, etc.
• Warnings and/or other disciplinary actions/complaints with co-workers.

If you don’t have any or all of these documents, ask for copies to be made. You don’t necessarily need the originals for everything. Just having a copy in your own personal personnel file will suffice to provide all the reference and evidence you’ll ever need.

Related posts:

1. How Much Should An Employee Get In A Severance Package?
2. Your Employer Can Cut Your Benefits After Age 65
3. Top 5 Ways to Create Job Security

I got locked out of my house last year and my cell phone was inside the house. It was then that I realized I no longer had many people’s phone numbers memorized. In fact, I could only think of one number off the top of my head for anyone local I could call for help.

That got me thinking of what would happen if I lost my phone. I could email friends to get their numbers, but what about the business contacts I have on my phone and nowhere else? Those would be gone forever. When I upgraded to a Blackjack a couple of years ago, I had to painstakingly write out all the numbers and contact info I had stored in my old phone.

So I’ve been waiting for something like this for a long time. Weblog MakeUseOf has a list of four handy websites you can use to backup your cell phone.

It seems like for most of you, the best of the bunch is a site called Mobical. It’s a dead simple over-the-air backup of your contacts. You don’t have to do much… the info gets sent over the air so long as your phone can connect to the internet. Also, Mobical supports most modern cell phones. Not my Blackjack, apparently.

So, I’m gonna try Anywr, which promises to be compatible with Windows Mobile phones. Anywr also syncs all your outlook and email contacts and offers some twitter-like capabilities.

MakeUseOf also mentions ZYB and Bloove which have similar features, plus social networking capabilities. Read the full MakeUseOf post for all the pros and cons.

Related posts:

1. 10 Reasons to Hate Cell Phone Carriers
2. Cell Phone Zen For Job Search Success
3. GrandCentral- One Number to Ring Them All, And in the Darkness…