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I'm a law student (1L) with a masters degree in a non-related field (education). Should I even bother putting that as an email signature when I apply for summer internships? Or other professional correspondence? I don't want to sound like a douche.

If I did, it would be:

Firstname M. Lastname, EdM
JD Candidate
Madeup School of Law

What you put there is great, maybe add your email and phone number. The point of the signature is to help them easily ID/contact you. Name, Law School, Contact info. They'll see the other stuff in your resume.

I personally feel that email signatures are overly used, and seldom of value.

They only make sense in a handful of occasions, the people that you deal with on a daily basis likely do not need a miniature resume from you with every message.

I always feel as though the entire point of an email signature is to answer two questions. First, who is this email from? And second, how can I get in touch with the sender? My email signature during law school looked like this:

Name
JD Candidate <year>
Law School
email address
phone number (a google voice number I didn't mind strangers having)

That way, if my email got forwarded and the header information was lost, the recipient could still reach me. It clearly identified who I was and why they should care. So yeah, I'd but your grad degree. I might put it on a different line, like, "EdM, School of Ed, <year>," especially if the school is impressive.

FuturePD wrote:I always feel as though the entire point of an email signature is to answer two questions. First, who is this email from? And second, how can I get in touch with the sender? My email signature during law school looked like this:

Name
JD Candidate <year>
Law School
email address
phone number (a google voice number I didn't mind strangers having)

That way, if my email got forwarded and the header information was lost, the recipient could still reach me. It clearly identified who I was and why they should care. So yeah, I'd but your grad degree. I might put it on a different line, like, "EdM, School of Ed, <year>," especially if the school is impressive.

Agree

haus wrote:I personally feel that email signatures are overly used, and seldom of value.

This. Especially since you are a law student and not a working professional.

I never had a problem with just:

Name
Email
Phone

Less is more. The longer your sig is, the less anyone wants to read it

haus wrote:I personally feel that email signatures are overly used, and seldom of value.

FuturePD wrote:If my email got forwarded and the header information was lost, the recipient could still reach me.

but keep in mind this:

bk187 wrote:you are a law student and not a working professional.

Putting your degree at the end of your name makes you look like a tool, and when it's a masters of education it just makes you look sad.

Bildungsroman wrote:Putting your degree at the end of your name makes you look like a tool, and when it's a masters of education it just makes you look sad.

Although it is not as bad as the listing of certifications one holds (e.g. PMP)

haus wrote:

Bildungsroman wrote:Putting your degree at the end of your name makes you look like a tool, and when it's a masters of education it just makes you look sad.

Although it is not as bad as the listing of certifications one holds (e.g. PMP)

Nothing is worse than listing a PMP

haus wrote:

Bildungsroman wrote:Putting your degree at the end of your name makes you look like a tool, and when it's a masters of education it just makes you look sad.

Although it is not as bad as the listing of certifications one holds (e.g. PMP)

I didn't know one could get certified as a pimp

rad lulz wrote:I never had a problem with just:

Name
Email
Phone

Less is more. The longer your sig is, the less anyone wants to read it

Name. Mobile. Fax. E-mail.

I agree with the above. The signature is not a miniature resume. The person should not have to look at your signature to gain any information about you that they could not otherwise get from a better source, such as the e-mail itself, your LinkedIn, attached documents, professional contacts, etc.

Kafkaesquire wrote:

rad lulz wrote:I never had a problem with just:

Name
Email
Phone

Less is more. The longer your sig is, the less anyone wants to read it

Name. Mobile. Fax. E-mail.

I agree with the above. The signature is not a miniature resume. The person should not have to look at your signature to gain any information about you that they could not otherwise get from a better source, such as the e-mail itself, your LinkedIn, attached documents, professional contacts, etc.

who has a fax machine these days?

RedLightGreenLight wrote:

Kafkaesquire wrote:

rad lulz wrote:I never had a problem with just:

Name
Email
Phone

Less is more. The longer your sig is, the less anyone wants to read it

Name. Mobile. Fax. E-mail.

I agree with the above. The signature is not a miniature resume. The person should not have to look at your signature to gain any information about you that they could not otherwise get from a better source, such as the e-mail itself, your LinkedIn, attached documents, professional contacts, etc.

who has a fax machine these days?

You'd be surprised

guano wrote:

RedLightGreenLight wrote:

Kafkaesquire wrote:

rad lulz wrote:I never had a problem with just:

Name
Email
Phone

Less is more. The longer your sig is, the less anyone wants to read it

Name. Mobile. Fax. E-mail.

I agree with the above. The signature is not a miniature resume. The person should not have to look at your signature to gain any information about you that they could not otherwise get from a better source, such as the e-mail itself, your LinkedIn, attached documents, professional contacts, etc.

who has a fax machine these days?

You'd be surprised

Lol. Yeah, you never know. And it's not exactly distracting or lengthy information, so if you do have a fax number, might as well throw it into the signature. I personally have a fax machine within my Fax/Copy/Scan/Print device, but I have never used it....

I have a master's and would never put it in my email like that. I also hate to break it to you, but I watched as multiple employers glanced down my legal resume as a 3L and skipped from law school straight to undergrad. Honestly, people aren't that concerned about that thing you did after undergrad that obviously didn't work out too well because you ended up in law school instead.

Void wrote:I have a master's and would never put it in my email like that. I also hate to break it to you, but I watched as multiple employers glanced down my legal resume as a 3L and skipped from law school straight to undergrad. Honestly, people aren't that concerned about that thing you did after undergrad that obviously didn't work out too well because you ended up in law school instead.

There is something about your last statement that I cannot condone. Not everyone goes to law school simply because they did not or could not succeed in another field. I have every criteria to work for a Fortune 50 company as an engineer, but I will go to law school because I see it as my calling.

I am not denying that people may skip the things you mentioned they tend to skip, but your premise is false.

Kafkaesquire wrote:

Void wrote:I have a master's and would never put it in my email like that. I also hate to break it to you, but I watched as multiple employers glanced down my legal resume as a 3L and skipped from law school straight to undergrad. Honestly, people aren't that concerned about that thing you did after undergrad that obviously didn't work out too well because you ended up in law school instead.

I have a lot about your statement that I cannot condone. Firstly, not everyone goes to law school simply because they did not or could not succeed in another field. I have every criteria to work for a Fortune 50 company as an engineer, but I will go to law school because I see it as my calling.

I am not denying that people may skip the things you mentioned they tend to skip, but your premise is false.

I meant that this is the general assumption, not that it's actually the case. It's also a different situation if you have a STEM background and you're interested in IP, because those employers generally care alot about your pre-LS experience.

Kafkaesquire wrote:

rad lulz wrote:I never had a problem with just:

Name
Email
Phone

Less is more. The longer your sig is, the less anyone wants to read it

Name. Mobile. Fax. E-mail.

I agree with the above. The signature is not a miniature resume. The person should not have to look at your signature to gain any information about you that they could not otherwise get from a better source, such as the e-mail itself, your LinkedIn, attached documents, professional contacts, etc.

Your law school and year should definitely be in there too. That information is central to the job you are trying to get and how you are identifying yourself. Yeah they might be able figure it out from the body of the email, but you don't want them (or the people they forward the email to) to have to do the extra work on such important information.

clee33 wrote:

Kafkaesquire wrote:

rad lulz wrote:I never had a problem with just:

Name
Email
Phone

Less is more. The longer your sig is, the less anyone wants to read it

Name. Mobile. Fax. E-mail.

I agree with the above. The signature is not a miniature resume. The person should not have to look at your signature to gain any information about you that they could not otherwise get from a better source, such as the e-mail itself, your LinkedIn, attached documents, professional contacts, etc.

Your law school and year should definitely be in there too. That information is central to the job you are trying to get and how you are identifying yourself. Yeah they might be able figure it out from the body of the email, but you don't want them (or the people they forward the email to) to have to do the extra work on such important information.

Yes, I suppose I would agree.

Don't include the EdM, but do include your contact info (I really like it when people always use contact info sigs in professional e-mails because then if I need to call them I don't have to dig for their number), and including the JD Candidate stuff is not a bad idea if it's in stuff relating to a job app (and I don't find anything particularly douchey about it in any case).

blsingindisguise wrote:Don't include the EdM, but do include your contact info (I really like it when people always use contact info sigs in professional e-mails because then if I need to call them I don't have to dig for their number), and including the JD Candidate stuff is not a bad idea if it's in stuff relating to a job app (and I don't find anything particularly douchey about it in any case).

When I was in school I included my class year too- the JD candidate thing is a way of communicating that you're still a law student, and the class year generally indicates how far along you are. This way your recipient can at least get a rough idea of whether you're a 1L or a 3L.

Void wrote:

blsingindisguise wrote:Don't include the EdM, but do include your contact info (I really like it when people always use contact info sigs in professional e-mails because then if I need to call them I don't have to dig for their number), and including the JD Candidate stuff is not a bad idea if it's in stuff relating to a job app (and I don't find anything particularly douchey about it in any case).

When I was in school I included my class year too- the JD candidate thing is a way of communicating that you're still a law student, and the class year generally indicates how far along you are. This way your recipient can at least get a rough idea of whether you're a 1L or a 3L.

Right, this. Law students have a tendency to over think what kind of "impression" every little detail makes rather than thinking about the practical side. The fact that a person is a law student graduating in x year can be useful information, and no hiring person is going to go "LOL what a snob, he put his JD class in his e-mail signature."