Email Etiquette for New Grads

The Problem

New college graduate hires were freshmen when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. As a result, they have little experience acting professionally in an office setting. More experienced colleagues and senior staff members have been unhappy with email correspondence from these new hires.

The most common issues that management is seeing include: the use of unprofessional email addresses; no text in the subject line, all caps in the subject line, or vague or off-topic subject lines; no salutation or an inappropriate salutation such as “Hey”; the use of slang, emojis, text message abbreviations, or all caps in the body of the email; body paragraphs that are unclear and create more work for the recipient; a lack of proofreading for grammatical, spelling, and mechanical errors; no professional email signature with contact information; and attachments that are missing or have vague names like “My Resume”. 

The eLearning Solution

Since this training is part of a larger onboarding program, I decided that an animated video would be an ideal solution because:

1. Videos are engaging and appropriate for this audience and content. The learners in this case are digital natives who are used to consuming a lot of video content on any given day, so this method respects their preferences and that they're comfortable with. To increase engagement, I focused on:

   • • Keeping the video as brief as possible.

     • Using conversational language with a voiceover that speaks fairly quickly and enthusiastically.

2. Tapping into learners' visual and auditory processing can maximize working memory. By combining the cognitive load theory of Sweller (1998) and the theory of multimedia learning of Mayer & Moreno (2003), I was able to create a solution that enhances learning and retention. I included the following elements:

   • • Segmenting to chunk information and manage the intrinsic load.

     • Leveraging the modality principle by limiting on-screen text to the most relevant and impactful, thereby aiding learners' germane load.

     • Flexible: Learners can use this tip sheet anytime they want and on any device.

     • Customizable: This tip sheet could be used as a template to deliver any bite-sized learning desired, with minimal re-development time.

3. This video is part of a larger program that includes ways for learners to actively learn by applying what they've experienced in real-world situations. The follow-up activity to this video is an interactive scenario in which learners guide a new hire as they communicate with their team via email over the course of a week. It's essential to offer opportunities for active learning because:

   • • Learner motivation is increased when they need to immediately apply what they're learning in a real-world situation.

     • Students can self-assess their understanding of the content more easily when presented with active learning activities instead of a traditional quiz or assessment.