How To Write Professional Communications
How To Write Professional Communications is a Villanova Career Center guide that helps students write clear, thoughtful, and professional emails or messages for career-related situations. Strong communication is an important career readiness skill, and this guide gives students examples they can adapt when contacting employers, recruiters, alumni, networking contacts, or other professionals.
This resource can help students communicate professionally when networking, following up after events or interviews, managing job or internship offers, negotiating salary, accepting an offer, declining an offer, or withdrawing from an applicant pool.
This guide includes sample messages for situations such as:
- Requesting a career conversation, networking conversation, or informational interview
- Requesting to connect with someone on LinkedIn or NovaNetwork
- Following up after meeting someone at an event or career fair
- Following up after applying for a job or internship
- Sending a thank you message after an interview
- Following up after an interview if you have not heard back
- Requesting an extension on a job or internship offer deadline
- Asking to discuss salary and benefits
- Negotiating salary with or without a competing offer
- Withdrawing from an applicant pool after accepting another offer
- Accepting a job or internship offer
- Declining an offer after accepting another opportunity
- Declining an offer when the role is not the right fit
Key professional communication tips from the guide include:
- Be clear about why you are writing
- Mention your connection to the person when relevant
- Keep messages thoughtful, polished, and brief
- Clearly state what you are asking for
- Express gratitude
- Use a professional subject line
- Send follow-up messages within an appropriate time frame
- Send thank you messages within 24 hours after an interview
- Mention specific details from a conversation when following up
- Reaffirm your interest in the role when appropriate
- Be polite and professional when asking about timelines, salary, or offer deadlines
- Respond promptly when accepting, declining, or withdrawing from an opportunity
- Avoid over-explaining or over-apologizing when declining an offer
Students can use this guide as a reference when drafting professional messages and can adapt the sample language to fit their own voice, goals, and situation.
