Certs in Email Signature

It's always been a conflict for me of whether or not I should put my certs in my email signature. At this point, I rarely use my signature that has them in there. What others do out there? Do you separate it out like "inside company email = no certs" "outside = certs"?

I'm curious of the opinions out there.

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earweed

If it was CCIE,PMP, or another similar designation which is expected in a signature. As far as certs like CCNA, MCSE, or ANYTHING CompTIA (except maybe trainer, if that was my job) I would leave them off.

f0rgiv3n

I'm in agreement with that one earweed. I've seen some others though with quite a few certs in their signature that made me go O_o

cyberguypr

As with many things out there, opinions differ. I don't use them.

Here are a couple of old threads that shed some light on this topic:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/58209-displaying-certs-email-signature.html

http://www.techexams.net/forums/isc-sscp-cissp/61409-putting-cissp-sig-block-resume-memos.html

http://www.techexams.net/forums/general-certification/65721-certs-email-signature.html

f0rgiv3n

ah HA! I knew there had to be a few out there, thanks for the linkage cyberguypr.

lsud00d

I agree with earweed as well...if you have an advanced degree or certification, that's fine.

However I have always been a fan of minimal email sigs...it's a pet peeve of mine when someone is like

Full name
Title
Company
Address line 1
Address line 2
Address line 3
Phone
Fax
Cell
Home
Beeper
cheesy quote

f0rgiv3n

Ahahaha@cheesy quote. It's so funny when that's in there with a large font, italicized and in a different color

ptilsen

CISSP, CCIE, MCM, PMP, and graduate degrees. Even then, I would go with your particular organization's culture. As far as outside, I would say no credentials in email signature unless you are a consultant. Nothing around the MCSE/CCNP level or below under any circumstances.

Claymoore

I am a consultant and my company has an email signature template that we are required to use. Certifications are part of that template, but I keep it simple on one line by only listing MCITP/MCSE level with abbreviations. If they can't figure out what the abbreviations mean, I doubt the full title will mean anything to them. Fortunately, I haven't seen anyone here use the logo builder and include the cert logos in their signature. We have some people who list a few specific MCTS if it is important to their role, but I don't do that. I don't even list all my certs on my resume so I am certainly not putting them in every email.

earweed

Claymoore wrote: »

. I don't even list all my certs on my resume so I am certainly not putting them in every email.

But then again, most of us, unlike you, wouldn't have a mult-ipage cert list section on their resume..

ougijoe

earweed wrote: »

If it was CCIE,PMP, or another similar designation which is expected in a signature. As far as certs like CCNA, MCSE, or ANYTHING CompTIA (except maybe trainer, if that was my job) I would leave them off.

Completely agree.

YuckTheFankees

ougijoe wrote: »

Completely agree.

^.. but I would also slip in my CIW certs as well.

the_Grinch

I don't do it. My reasoning is it was annoying to see when I worked with healthcare clients. I have nothing to prove to anyone so why include them? I saw nurses who would have RN, ASN, BSN, MSN, <specialization> and generally the more after their name the more of a pain they were. We get it, you're a nurse, let it go.

Akaricloud

lsud00d wrote: »

I agree with earweed as well...if you have an advanced degree or certification, that's fine.

However I have always been a fan of minimal email sigs...it's a pet peeve of mine when someone is like

Full name
Title
Company
Address line 1
Address line 2
Address line 3
Phone
Fax
Cell
Home
Beeper
cheesy quote

The company I work for just made it a requirement that we have a signature like this and attach a vCard. Additionally we attach 6 images to all of our social media pages. 9 out of 10 times my signature is longer than the emails I send and it's absolutely horrible on our exchange storage.

I'm of the opinion that signatures should be short, simple and relevant to anyone who might read them. In certain IT positions high-level certifications may fit into this but most of the time that isn't the case.

N2IT

My boss has his PMP and told me to get my RMP in my signature block. First time I ever put a certification in a workplace signature block. He asked me to put my ITIL in there too, but I couldn't stomach seeing two certs in there.

For me it's one certification and when I get my MBA that will replace my RMP. More than one just looks extremely cheesy to me.

YFZblu

Certain departments in our organization do it. The other day, I saw a Desktop Support guy's signature - It featured A+, Net+, Sec+, Linux+, Apple, Solaris, AND each certification's corresponding logo. I nearly died...

Anyway, I used to put multiple certs in my email signature because my boss asked me to. In my new role I don't put any. I might toss one or two security-related certs in there when I get some that I'm really proud of.

ajs1976

I don't list any now and never have. If I start consulting again and complete something higher level like the CISSP or update my CCEA and MCSE I may.

Node Man

i dont use it in a signature. but i do keep a framed copy of my cert on my desk. i always see myself smiling in the reflection on the glass

Iristheangel

HAhahaha... my consultant email address has everything except the CCAs and CIWs. I really have been meaning to change it for some time. Thanks for reminding me, guys!

cyberguypr

I can imagine the signature:

Iristheangel
IT Consultant
(123) 456-7890
iris@theangel.com
CISSP, CEH, CCNA:S/V, MCSE:S, MCDST, A/S/L/P/N+, and some useless Citrix and CIW certs

paulgswanson

I only use my Cert sig when I need to put someone in their place.

Happanes quite often where I work.

crashdump

I don't own very valuable certs. If I would own, I would put in signature

Trashman

I don't understand why everything has to be CCIE or MCSE in order to be mentioned.
I'd say it depends on your situation.

If you work for a big ISP then perhaps not, but if you run your own business or work for a small company, why not.
It's all about selling yourself.

Customers won't dig into your resume.

docrice

I'm not a fan of "signature bloat," especially when resellers send me email. It's not necessarily just the certification letters after their names, but also banners which no doubt increases the inbox-consuming size of the message and the resulting vertical high-heeling when parsing through an email thread. Anything that artificially increases scroll-time gets credibility point reductions from me.

I understand it if you're a consultant or trainer or in a position to demonstrate-your-qualifications as a reseller, but I've worked with enough "certified professionals" to know that "John Smith, CCNA, CCNP, MCITP: EA, CISSP, CEH" probably won't be able to get the answer that I'm looking for on the first try. It's almost akin to trying too hard to prove yourself or ego up-sizing.

On a business cards, I think the certification alphabet is fine for resellers and consulting groups. But if you make me work harder just to read email, I'm going to get impatient really fast.

GoodBishop

f0rgiv3n wrote: »

It's always been a conflict for me of whether or not I should put my certs in my email signature. At this point, I rarely use my signature that has them in there. What others do out there? Do you separate it out like "inside company email = no certs" "outside = certs"?

I'm curious of the opinions out there.

I try to keep it to 3 certs, and I put the CISSP and two of my ISACA certs on my signature. People can always look me up and find out the additional certs.

Although, I have 4 different email signatures, and the only difference is the certifications listed. So say I want to talk to the Legal department about privacy issues, then I put CISSP, CIPP/US, CIPP/IT. Say I want to talk to Internal Audit, then it is CISSP, CISA, CRISC. Say I want to talk to the security department, then I put CISSP, CISM, CGEIT. I tailor the certs to the audience that I am typing my email to.

The question is why do I do this though. Well, certifications give you creditability in a area... at least, the good ones do (aka I would hope a PMP would know how to run a project.

). Putting them on a email signature gives you that creditability for folks who you haven't met, like a random lawyer who you are working with to address technology issues. Plus, honestly, there aren't a lot of folks with certifications out there.

Most of the time, I just put my name at the end, no certs. It's faster that way. There are also times when I need to lay the hammer down that I put my signature in too.

GoodBishop

And yeah, it's text only. No images. Keep it simple.

N2IT

cyberguypr wrote: »

I can imagine the signature:

Iristheangel
IT Consultant
(123) 456-7890
iris@theangel.com
CISSP, CEH, CCNA:S/V, MCSE:S, MCDST, A/S/L/P/N+, and some useless Citrix and CIW certs

Wow I just spit up soda all over my keyboard.

TechGromit

I currently do not have any certifications listed on my email signature, I was considering adding my A+, but I don't think everyone would appreciate my sense of humor. I agree that adding too many certifications to your email signature is overkill, but when I obtain my CISSP I think I'll add it to my email signature. I do not think I currently possess any certification's impressive enough to list at the moment.

P.S. Yes I know this is an old thread, I did a search for it to add my two cents to this topic, instead of starting yet another thread on the same topic.

Replicon

I keep mine in the signature, I like them being after my name but dislike having logos and quotes in the signature, though I fear sometimes that some senior executives might take it the wrong way that I wan't to look like smart ass, considering I am more certified than my seniors

xxxkaliboyxxx

Do you put all of your certs?

Mike7

TechGromit wrote: »

I do not think I currently possess any certification's impressive enough to list at the moment.

Even if you do, you may not want to list them unless you want to drive home a point.

I have 2 email signatures in my Outlook; the standard one with my job title, contact details, legal disclaimers and no certifications, and one with the trinity of CISSP,CISA,CISM certs listed. I call it trinity as some job postings explicitly requires for either one or all of the 3 certs.

I tend not to use signatures except when corresponding formally with external parties and usually use the signature without certs. I am ambivalent about certs in email signature especially with someone who is not a customer; it's kinda of show-off. A simple email concluded with my name is good enough

For emails with customers, listing the appropriate certs gives you some credibility.

No certs for emails with internal users and vendors; they can find it on my LinkedIn. A colleauge stumbled onto my LinkedIn profile list of certifications and my colleagues could not stop talking about them for months. I would not say I have an impressive list rather that I just happened to have more certs than them. Guess they were both impressed and slightly envious.

It may go the wrong way; they see you as a competitor out to take over their jobs and make things difficult for you. Luckily it turned out well.