College students and twenty-somethings, if you want a future employer to take you seriously, not just in your job search but once you land that prime job, you’ll have to condescend to use that archaic method of communication: EMAIL. Really. Most employers won’t Facebook message you an interview request or send you a text with a job offer.
The latter may seem obvious but the fact is that they expect you to be checking your email, regularly, as in at least once a day, ideally more often. I continually am amazed by how infrequently college students check email or fail to acknowledge that they have received an email that is looking for a response. I’ve also received texts that could put “War and Peace” to shame, but that’s a blog for another day.

Looking for a job means that you are playing on a new field with different rules. Employers communicate important information via email as it is the current standard in business. They won’t be texting you and they don’t expect you to text them. They also expect you to be responsive. If you get an email seeking a response, it’s imperative that you respond the same day. They also are not interested in your excuses so don’t go there. Please don’t let a simple mistake cost you a great job opportunity.

The human resource or hiring manager is the person who controls the conversation, not just when it happens but also the preferred communication style. Take your clues from them. When you are looking for a job, you need to remember that it’s about the company, not you, and the employer sets the rules of engagement. If you don’t choose to play by their rules, that’s fine, but just understand the expectation going in so you aren’t wondering why you don’t seem to be getting amazing job offers left and right.

And, if you’re applying for a job at Google, Facebook or Twitter, you can pretty much ignore everything I just wrote.