Your E-Mail address matters.
Using the wrong email address when applying for a job could hurt your chances
Using your work email to apply for jobs is not a good idea. Not only is it a misuse of company resources, it's a good way to get caught looking for a job by your current employer. People get fired for less. Plus, prospective employers will not look favorably on this.
Also, you're obviously planning on leaving your job. If you leave your job, you will not have access to your email account. What if an even better job offer comes through and they can't contact you? Using your work email to apply for jobs is not a good idea. Not only is it a misuse of company resources, it's a good way to get caught looking for a job by your current employer. People get fired for less. Plus, prospective employers will not look favorably on this.
You also should not use the email account your Internet Service Provider gave you. This makes you too dependent on your ISP. If you decide to change ISP's, you lose all your contacts you've been developing unless you contact them with the new address. This is impossible for most people, let alone job seekers.
What you should do:
Get a free account from an email provider. The ultimate is to have an email account at a domain you own. This gives you complete control over your domain name, looks more impressive and gives you a permanent email address. This may not be in your budget. So create an email account that allow that professionally represents who you are.
Names like partygirl, sexychick, hotboy, ghettob are NOT appropriate or effective for applicants.
Plus, it makes it very difficult for a recruiter to find your name when looking through an inbox. It's much better if you actually have a username that is close to your actual name. For instance John.C.Smith@ or JohnSmith@. Of course, this is not recommended for an email address used for the general public. This is only for sending email to trusted companies.There are a large number of email addresses that are just not professional. When choosing a username, you've got to consider how it makes you look. Email addresses used for professional purposes should not be cute, crude or even personal.
A good practice is to put yourself in the recruiter's shoes. So once you choose your username, send an email to yourself at another account. Observe how it appears in your inbox. Check your email signature, your name in the FROM line, etc. Make sure that all elements look professional.
Best advice: Designate an email account just for your job search
Get an email account specifically for applying for a job. It's not advisable to have your real name as a username for general web purposes. But in applying for a job, you'll be giving your full name anyway. So having this email address specifically for the purpose of applying for jobs is a good idea. Another good reason to do this is that you will not have used this new address out on the web in message boards, guest books, your personal web site or the web site of your 'side business'. All of these actions can be indexed in search engines and viewed by your prospective employers. Keeping your job search address separate is also a good practice to help you stay organised and not confuse private email with job search email. You're also likely to have less spam in your job search email so, your risk of confusing an employer's email with spam is much less.
