For what can seem an inane topic, your email signature can actually be a rather telling one. So much so that an interesting article was written recently Email signatures: Adding the suffix ‘MBA’ is very telling. The article received over 70 comments, which shows how provocative such a small topic can be. The article looks at those in society who can clearly proffer their letters with confidence, such as Doctors ‘MD’, Professors ‘PhD’ and other such professions. So where does the MBA fit in? You have dedicated a lot of time, effort and money in securing this credential, however you are not allowed to flaunt it. The writer of this article, Dudley B.Dawson, is of the opinion that an email signature in the corporate world that highlights such education and accreditations is perhaps a bit lame. I am not sure that I completely agree.
Dawson does offer tips to think about before including a suffix to your name:
1. Is my professional training as important to clients as it is to me?
2. Does my suffix look ridiculous after my name?
3. Can a high school student perform admirably at my job?
4. Are you performing a service that requires licensing, by law?
5. If you really think about it, is this suffix you are about to add just inflating your own ego?
This also prompts the question about organizations and their employees’ email signatures; these days they are used for promoting all the awards that the organization has received and also as recruitment drives, more recently. By promoting the organization’s achievements, they are certainly promoting their egos – so where do you cross the line?
Sports people promote themselves – their wins, medals, cups and so on publicly all the time (and I am sure some even do so in their email signatures). Is it wrong for the normal worker to promote their lifetime work and educational achievements? Personally I don’t think so. If you have got it, flaunt it!
What are your thoughts about individuals promoting their accreditations and achievements in their email signatures?
8 Comments
What a joke. You can buy an MBA for $30k, what does it prove? Get over yourself importance, more than 50% of under grads have post grad qualifications today, it is the expected norm. Boast your achievements in business will gain greater respect than an MBA. Your e-mail signature if diffinately no place for any of this. Get a life.
Please, this can not be a serious discussion. How unprofessional is it to include irrelevant qualifications on an e-mail signature. I am a qualified naturopath, should I add this to me sign-off. Why not try to actually achieve something people respect in business and have this noticed by your actions rather than self serving sign-offs. Gen Y this a recession and no place for such purile self promotion.
A signature for business should give some indication of who the person is in reference to the topic of the email. Like you’ve stated, if a high school graduate could have posed the same question, information or solution in an email, then accreditations are moot and perhaps devalue themselves (if my nephew can answer the question I don’t need an MBA). On the other hand, just as a special witness brought to the stand would be introduced with great care to describe their accreditations and achievements that indicate they are credible, knowledgable and qualified to speak on the topic – so are similar accreditations appropriate in signing an email that carries different weight or credibility because it came from the qualified individual rather than just any old joe with an opinion and a keyboard.
Kelly – I think that anyone who places ‘MBA’ or ‘PMP’ or any of the other crap after their name is a complete fool and should immediately be tossed in the trash. And I’m not referring to their resume.
The post has certainly resulted in a lot of great views and perspectives about the subject. I don’t promote my own academic achievements, particularly as my MEI (Masters in Entrepreneurship and Innovation) is not widely known and does not blend particularly well with having a HR background – ironically it more seems to work against rather than for!
However I can also understand why once you have completed something you are proud of and/or that will add to your status or employability you may want to get some mileage out of it.
Status is a funny thing and sometimes having a widely regarded suffix can help open doors. Alain de Botton’s book ‘Status Anxiety’ covers the topic of the quest for social status, which is very much entwined with suffixes and how those in society gain more status and respect subject to the titles they hold. Like it not, this is the unfortunate reality.
Why is it an “unfortunate reality” that an MD, a QC or even a CA can signify their credentials, as they are globally recognized and afford the person a certain status and respect?
For the rest of us, the fact of being in a particular job means that we have been through a culling processes, encompassing (one hopes) qualifications, experience, skills, competence and past performance, ipso facto, there is no need to trot out one’s formal (and often very old!) educational history on a daily basis. The fact of having the job suggests that one is, some how, qualified.
Besides, a degree or post graduate attainments are mostly not much more than a tick box in the culling process after a while, by which I mean, after, say, five years, experience and demonstrated competence on the job well and truly overtake a few years of study.
Consider also, most people don’t even work in an area of relevance to their areas of study!
Only pretentious prats and the embarrassingly insecure would add “MBA” to their signature.
I would grant an exemption to the self employed who choose to include qualifications and certifications on their business cards, that’s just good sense.
This is not a practice that will catch on, as most people seem to recognize it for what it is, and it’s met with fulsome derision!
All these comments are valid in the context of the writer’s POV.
Effective communication is however first about being understanding and then about being understood
I try to practice a slightly different approach. When signing a communication my primary consideration is the recipient’s perspective, cultual enviroment,our shared professional interest and our exisiting relationship.
In NA it is approriate to indicate professional certification ( CPA CA MD JD PHd) when corresponding with exisiting and prospective clients.
In many Asian cultures it is also approriate (less so in the recent past) to acknowledge the titles,certification, and education in the saluation. It is then in my experience similarly approriate to do do in your signature line.
I would guess that anyone that objects to someone putting it on their profile or email signature doesn’t have the qualification and might be a tad jealous. On the other hand if I were to put all my degrees and certifications behind my name it would make my email signature longer than most emails I send. I think common sense might be a good way to go on this topic. Put it on there, don’t put it on there, just realize that if you do there are some that will say “what a pretentious ass”, and others may not get the info about you that they may want or need (people that don’t read your resume but do see your qualifications in the signature line). My advice…don’t go crazy and perhaps change the signature line to fit the audience you are trying to reach.