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Hey Designers! Is it ok to use Gmail as your main e-mail?
- Thread starter SamIchi
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Why not use your gmail to access your domain specific email via Google Apps? I've been doing that for a few years now and don't have any reason to change it. Check out, it's free.
I'm not talking about accessing it, but more for like business contact, like on business cards and stuff, should is it ok to use a gmail? Or does it look unprofessional? I guess it would just be to save like 12 bucks a year, but I'm not really sure about the domain name as of now.
I'm sorry, but if I see a gmail or hotmail account on a resumé or business card i do look a little askance at it. It doesn't look nearly as professional (to me).
Seriously, $1 a month is too much?
I don't see anything wrong with using a gmail address. It is not like it is hotmail.
Then what would recommend someone who doesn't have his own domain to use as an email account?
Yeah that seems fine. But he is using it for business cards.
I mean which looks more professional?
bob@gmail.com
bob@designsbybob.com
Because in the professional world, it's assumed that you've built enough experience to go beyond a free email account. I'm a graphic designer and have been on a number of hiring committees. The designer who has their own domain appears more professional than the designer with a free email account.
There are 1000 little (and big) cues that one uses in sizing up candidates. That is just one of them... and it is not one of the bigger ones.
Yeah... but I still won't hire you.
Oooohhh... just kidding.
Git out there and kick some behind!
As a consumer I don't mind people using a gmail account. Email is email afaik.
Google has made huge inroads into education by providing free tools for colleges to use, which is definitely respectable. Current college grads know and respect gmail.
Also, it's kind of comforting, because no one is expecting Google to go away any time soon. Gmail provides an aura of permanence.
Google has made huge inroads into education by providing free tools for colleges to use, which is definitely respectable. Current college grads know and respect gmail.
Also, it's kind of comforting, because no one is expecting Google to go away any time soon. Gmail provides an aura of permanence.
Although this seems to be very true I think it's a shame. Gmail is great and so is simplicity. It's a shame someone would be so snobby and short-sighted as to exclude an otherwise worthy candidate on something as trivial as an email provider... especially such a widely used one.
As someone who has hired people for the government, I can promise you that your e-mail address' domain hardly matters. Well-qualified people have AOL, comcast, worldnet, hotmail, ymail, and pretty much every other crappy e-mail service and they're judged based on their resume, not their contact information.
If the nature of your contact information does affect the decision on whether or not you're to be hired, that organization isn't worth working for in the first place.
If the nature of your contact information does affect the decision on whether or not you're to be hired, that organization isn't worth working for in the first place.
What BS. If I'm going to apply for a new job, I'm not about to use my current, "professional looking" e-mail address from my current company for any correspondence, that is just asking for trouble. Obviously, if I'm going to be printing up business cards I would, but for a resume I'm giving to another potential employer? No way.
I got hired at my current job with a Gmail address on my resume. I don't think it's the domain, I think it's the username. All other things being equal SupaSexyPlaya696969@gmail.com is probably less likely to get the job than john.doe@gmail.com
IMO, it looks unprofessional.
I recently was thumbing through a motorcycle magazine whilst err.. using the facilities.. at work. There was an Italian manufacturer of helmets (they looked quite nice too).. and their email was soandso@AOL.COM. Yes.. AOL.COM. That would be fine 10 years ago.. but in 2010? That's just ridiculous.
Most web hosting sites will throw in a domain specific email service too. Use it.
I recently was thumbing through a motorcycle magazine whilst err.. using the facilities.. at work. There was an Italian manufacturer of helmets (they looked quite nice too).. and their email was soandso@AOL.COM. Yes.. AOL.COM. That would be fine 10 years ago.. but in 2010? That's just ridiculous.
Most web hosting sites will throw in a domain specific email service too. Use it.
I use an email with a custom domain on business cards, but gmail for daily communications, including with clients. I keep the custom email off gmail in order to have a backup for those rare occasions when gmail goes down.
In what profession does an e-mail address domain detract from a qualified candidate? Not trying to pick a fight, just genuinely curious. The concept of judging someone on something that petty is completely foreign to me. (Note: I'm not talking about a username like SupaSexyPlaya696969@gmail ; rather the difference between john.doe@gmail vs. john.doe@business.com )
In my profession it doesn't detract from a qualified candidate but the people I deal with on a day to day are taken more seriously by me if they have an actual domain e-mail address. The two don't correlate though, I don't hire the type of people I deal with on a day to day so ...
In web development and IT, where people are expected to be more savvy about such things. That said, Gmail is not nearly as maligned as Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, mostly because it's considered a technical leader, and even had some cachet back when invitations were hard to come by.