Creating the perfect email signature for college students (with inspiration)
2 May 2024
Contents of article
How colleges can use email signatures for their students
College students who want their email signature to stand out
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First impressions count just as much over email as they do in person. Any student about to enter the workplace needs to stand out in a crowded marketplace. There’s a lot of competition for job roles, so students need to grab prospective employers’ attention.
That’s why an email signature for college students is incredibly important.
Email signatures for college students are designed to convey professionalism and personality. This is to make the best possible impression over email. Email is the most common digital communication channel, making an email signature an important part of a college student’s digital identity. They’ll be sending a lot of emails, so they want to make sure that they don’t come across as just a name. Creating the right student email signature will make any student stand out and easy to contact.
In this article, we’ll look at how to create the perfect email signature for any college student. Whether you’re a college who wants to implement uniform signatures across the student body, or if you’re a college student who wants to elevate your personal email signature, in preparation for professional life.
How colleges can use email signatures for their students
Creating email signatures for students and staff at a college helps maintain consistency, compliance, and professionalism while efficiently managing the institution's brand identity and marketing efforts.
A college can empower students and staff to look after their own email signatures by providing college email signature guidelines, and regularly sending out fresh email signature banners for students and staff to add to their signatures. This can be a useful exercise, but this method has its drawbacks. It’s incredibly time consuming, and there’s no guarantee that staff and students will update their email signatures correctly, if at all.
Using an email signature management tool to centrally manage the distribution of email signatures for college students greatly reduces time spent managing signatures. It guarantees that every person has the most up-to-date contact details and branding and is sending the right message at the right time.
The benefits of having an email signature for college students
An email signature template for college students has benefits for both students, and the college itself. Some of the ways that a college can use an email signature include:
Promoting the academic achievements of your institution
Gathering feedback on your services
Growing a professional network of alumni
Highlighting internship and job prospects
Supporting your marketing campaigns and admissions targets
Improving student engagement
Providing a professionally branded signature for all students and staff
Staying compliant with any privacy regulations and branding
Supporting your college students with email signatures
Additionally, with so many college students looking to get a leg up in the working world, having a single tone of voice for all students can be the perfect way to introduce them to the business world. They’ll have an opportunity to present their digital selves and personality to a wider audience off the back of a credible college name and brand.
As such, your students can use their personal college signatures in many useful ways, particularly when it comes to looking for a job:
Use a headshot to make it easy for prospective employers to recognize them
Providing a link to their student CV and portfolio website
Showcasing their portfolio of research
Provide links to their contact details and social media accounts
An email signature that’s associated with your college will reflect well on the student
Creating a well-thought-out design will immediately grab the reader’s attention and showcase why they should engage with your students and your college. Your college will be able to put its branding on every signature.
College students who want to make their personal email signature stand out
If you’re a college student, making your email signature stand out enhances your professional image, helps you build your personal brand, and increases your visibility within academic and professional networks.
Let’s talk about how a great college email signature enhances your personal brand, and the essential elements to include.
Essential elements to put in your student email signature
The most important thing to remember when creating student email signatures is that they should be simple with clear contact information. A common issue with student email signatures is that they include too much detail.
We recommend keeping email signatures for students very basic by including just important details like your full name, main telephone number, and email address. You can also include your degree and your graduation year, particularly if the degree is relevant to the job you are applying for.
Remember that your email signature is not your CV, so you’re just reaching out to make initial contact. All the other achievements, accomplishments, and awards can be followed in conversations afterward.
Here’s what should be included:
1. Your full name
This means your middle name as well. Nicknames should never be used but do add your preferred gender pronoun if you wish.
2. The year you graduated (if you have graduated)
You can also state your qualification if it’s relevant to the job you’re applying for. This increases your credibility.
3. Your direct phone number and email address
This is to make it easy for someone to contact you directly. Including your email address is important if your message is forwarded to another recipient.
4. Professional website and social media links
Email signatures for students are the perfect place to promote your portfolio of work or a relevant website. Doing so is a great way to promote your work to potential employers.
However, don’t include personal IM, Facebook, or Twitter links unless they’re work-related. Also, ensure that you’re using official social media icons.
5. Headshot photo
This is optional, but your email signature will have more impact if you use an email signature photo. This helps to humanize your messages, making your email signature more personal and giving a face to your messages.
Make sure the image you use is high quality and doesn’t exceed a limit of 40kb.
How to create your student email signature in three easy steps
So now you know all the essential elements of a college email signature. But how do you create one? The process is different depending on which email provider and device you use. Follow these three steps to add an email signature to any email.
1. Find out your email provider and pick the relevant guide to follow:
Create an email signature on a Macbook
Add an email signature on Outlook
Add an email signature on Gmail
Create an iPhone email signature
Add an email signature on Android
2. Add social media icons and link them to your social media accounts
3. Add an email signature banner to create a CTA or link to your profile
Using your email signature to amplify your personal brand and secure your dream role
Going one step further, an email signature can also become an extension of your personal brand. A well-designed student email signature reflects you as a person. Therefore, a great email signature will showcase your attention to detail and professionalism.
This is incredibly important for job hunting.
When emailing prospective employers, your initial enquiry email and email signature are their first impression of you. That’s your first step to securing your dream role.
An email signature can also help you showcase other elements of your personal brand like your LinkedIn profile or work portfolio.
Here are some ideas for amplifying your personal brand with your student email signature:
Branding elements
Incorporating branding elements such as your name, a formal photo, or even your college logo can help reinforce your personal brand. Consistency in branding across all communication channels helps to establish a strong and memorable presence.
Links to portfolio or LinkedIn
If you have a portfolio showcasing your work or a LinkedIn profile highlighting your skills and experiences, including links to these in your email signature can be beneficial. It allows recipients to learn more about you and your accomplishments with just a click. You can even add this message into an email signature banner, to make it stand out in the email.
Tagline or value proposition
Consider adding a brief tagline or value proposition that summarizes what you're passionate about or what sets you apart. This could be a sentence or phrase that reflects your unique skills, interests, or career aspirations.
Professional associations or affiliations
If you're a member of any professional organizations or associations related to your field of study or career interests, including these in your email signature can help demonstrate your commitment to your chosen field.
Consistency across platforms
Ensure that your email signature is consistent with your branding on other platforms such as social media profiles, resumes, and business cards. This creates a cohesive and recognizable personal brand across all channels.
Visual appeal
A visually appealing email signature can leave a positive impression on recipients. However, keep it clean and professional—avoid overcrowding it with too many images or excessive text.
By using these elements effectively, college students can use their email signature as a powerful tool to showcase their personal brand, make a lasting impression on potential employers and secure your dream role.
10 college email signature examples
Stand out in the crowd
The best thing that you can do is try to compete with everyone on a level field, so getting an email signature that really advertises you as a candidate is best .
By designing a professional student email signature complete with your contact details and a distinct personal touch, you’ll more likely impress potential employers and ensure you end up at the front of the queue for any job role.
Make sure you take a look at our guide on email signature design for more inspiration.
Using Exclaimer to centralize your college email signatures
Exclaimer is a leading provider of email signature management solutions designed to help businesses create professional, consistent, and on-brand email signatures.
By using Exclaimer's platform, colleges and educational institutes can streamline their email signature management and ensure brand consistency across all communications. This promotes trust and supports your marketing and engagement goals
Give your students an email signature that will support their employment prospects, elevate your brand and reach your marketing goals.
Learn more about how Exclaimer can support your college and get an online demo of our email signature management solution.
