Corporate Survival Guide for Your Twenties. Kayla Buell

CC and BCC: Carbon copy and blank carbon copy. That’s what those letters stand for. When you cc or copy someone on an e-mail, it’s kind of seen as an FYI for that person. It’s not an e-mail that’s directed right at that person, nor do you require that they respond. It’s more of a “keeping them in the loop” kind of thing. When you BCC someone, you’re copying them on the e-mail so they see it, but the main person you send it to can’t see who you’ve blank copied. This is used mostly when you’re sending an e-mail to multiple recipients but you don’t want everyone to know who else is receiving the e-mail. Now, let me tell you something. Every day, probably even right now as you’re reading this, there’s someone out there who’s really upset because of an issue related to that cc field on an e-mail. It’s crazy, but I promise you it happens. I’ve seen grown people in tears or involved in near fistfights because of it. Let me give you an example… Laura is an employee, so is Charlie, and Mary is Laura’s boss. In this scenario, Charlie had asked Laura to take care of something for him a week ago and still hasn’t heard back from Laura. So what does Charlie do? He sends an e-mail to Laura asking for an update and he copies Laura’s boss, Mary. You guys, that is the quickest way to piss someone off in the work-world. I mean, if you hate someone and you’re purposely trying to raise their blood pressure, do that. It’s extremely effective. So before you copy someone on an e-mail, ask yourself: a. Is this something that they really need to know? b. Can I communicate this to them using a better platform? c. Is it necessary to copy this person’s boss, or can I get an answer by communicating with the employee directly? Yes, sadly, this is one of those things that we waste our energy on at work. I’ve been in the workforce since I was 17 and even today, this is a giant puzzle to me. If you sit right behind me at work and instead of talking to me directly, you send me an e-mail copying my boss, I promise you, I’ll hate you forever. Unless it’s an e-mail saying how cool I am. That would be fabulous. On a side note, I’d advise that you ask your boss what she’d like to be copied on. I’ve actually gotten in trouble before for NOT copying my boss on certain e-mails. When in doubt, just ask them, because no matter how hard you try, you can’t really win here. You’ll have managers that don’t want to be copied on ANYTHING because it clogs up their inbox, and you’ll have others that want to be copied on EVERYTHING. It all depends on their management style, and since you’re not a freaking mind reader— although most managers will expect you to be— it’s better that you discuss that up front. Proofread your e-mails: When you’re typing up an e-mail, you’re probably typing a million miles a minute, thinking about everything you want to say, and also figuring out what you’re going to eat for lunch later. You’re also doing that thing where you’re typing and erasing and then typing and erasing some more, trying to formulate your e-mail in a way that doesn’t get you fired (when really, all you want to type are the words YOU. ARE. STUPID!) With all the thoughts flooding through your brain, you’re very likely to use the wrong form of “there” or forget a word entirely, so you need to proofread your e-mails before you hit send. I’ve proofread e-mails right before sending them and I’ve honestly asked myself, “What the F were you thinking?” Like, they’ve been bad. Addressing the wrong person, entering the wrong numbers, that kind of bad. Or my personal favorite, the e-mail where I say, “Please see attached wonderful document that I’ve spent hours putting together for you, let me know what you think!” and then I forget to actually attach the damn thing. Minor details. So do yourself a favor and proofread everything you write, because I promise you, if you send out an e-mail and it’s got spelling errors, makes no grammatical sense, and looks like maybe a 2nd grader wrote it, the person receiving that e-mail WILL share it with all of their co-workers and you’ll just look like a total loser.

Take all the free training courses available to you.

      Training courses can be expensive. But you know what? Good companies provide their employees with lots of them. Employers often times figure that the cost of training outweighs the cost of poor performance, so they invest in their employees and provide lots of training opportunities.

      There are different kinds of training courses, though. There’s the traditional face-to-face training session where an actual instructor is teaching you, bringing back lots of high school memories. There are also plenty of webinars available that you can take in the comfort of your own home, on your bed, in your pajamas. Those kind of rock, obviously.

      But regardless of the type of training, the point is this…TAKE ALL THE TRAINING YOU CAN GET! It’s free information, people! Why on earth would you pass that up? There are two types of people in the workforce. The type that gets an e-mail about a free training opportunity and automatically files it in the “Trash” and the type that gets the same e-mail and actually looks into it to see if they might benefit from it.

      Guess which type your employer would prefer that you be? Guess which type seems more committed to their job? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. So show your new boss that you’re interested in learning all you can. If you have a one-on-one sit down with your boss, ask the question. Ask them if there are any free training opportunities available or if there are any resources available to employees to help them expand upon their skillset. Your boss might not know the answer, but he’ll be impressed that you asked, and he’ll know that you’re taking your job seriously.

Arrive on time to meetings and pay attention.

      You have to be on time to meetings. There are ZERO exceptions. There’s nothing worse than when a meeting’s already started, people are in deep conversation, and then oh…look at that…someone’s walking in late. At this point, all of the meeting attendants are staring at the late person thinking, “Ugh, what a slacker.” Because that’s what you look like when you’re late to a meeting. You look super unprofessional and you look like a total slacker. Not to mention that you’ve now shifted the focus of the meeting from whatever important topic was being discussed to you and your late self. No one likes this, so plan accordingly and don’t be late. If you ARE for some reason going to be late, it’s a good idea to let the meeting organizer know that, due to your schedule, you probably won’t be able to make it on time. At that point, they can let you know whether or not it’d be worth it for you to attend, and at least if you are late, it’ll be expected.

      Paying attention is just as important as being on time. Remember in high school when the teacher would randomly call on students and ask a question mid-lecture? Remember that time your teacher called on you and you hade no idea what what he was asking because you’d been staring off into space for the last thirty minutes, contemplating life, love, and all of your weekend plans? “I’m sorry, what was the question?” Yea, don’t let that be you at a meeting.

      If a meeting’s being held, it’s because there’s something that needs to be discussed, or something that needs to be communicated (otherwise, there wouldn’t be a meeting in the first place.) So the point of you being invited to the meeting is for you to contribute and provide value. If you’re on your phone, answering e-mails, playing with your Apple Watch, or doodling pretty flowers on your agenda, making no effort to pay attention to what’s going on, why the heck are you wasting your time being there?

      If you’re at a meeting, you’re expected to pay attention. It’s really that simple. But dude, I’ve been at meetings and witnessed the big guys— the Directors, VPs, and CEOs— scrolling through Facebook and answering e-mails. I always laugh when I see this,