How to Handle Negative Emails Professionally

How to Handle Negative Emails ProfessionallyHow to Handle Negative Emails Professionally4Resist the urge to respond. Your first reaction upon reading the email might be to respond right away. But firing back an equally emotional email can land you in a lot of hot water- and possibly ruin your relationship with a potential employer or your boss. So stop yourself from answering the email right away, no matter how much you want to dash off a response.Get up from your desk. In order to gain some perspective- and give yourself time to cool off- you should stand up from your desk. Take a walk, get a glass of water, or chat with aelendher colleague or friend for some perspective. This will give you time to decompress and calm down before sitting down again at your desk- and facing the email.Reread the email. Once youre in a better, calmer frame of mind, sit down and reread the email. After all, it may not be as bad as you think it is. It might be that you read through it hastily and misinte rpreted the meaning of the email. Go through and write down the underlying issues being expressed by the potential employer or your boss. This will allow you to address all of them appropriately in your response and help you to communicate better as you work from home.Think your response through. Time is of the essence, so you should definitely respond as quickly as possible. Be sure to answer any questions or clarify any miscommunication. If you feel that you might be misunderstood- or worse, that your job may be on the line- you should pick up the phone and call the email sender right away. By doing so, youll avoid long-term damage to your job candidacy or working relationship.It can be easy sometimes to misinterpret the intent of an email, so its best to clear the air as quickly as possible. That way, you can establish open lines of communication with potential employers or reestablish the lines of good and clear communication between your professional network or current boss aga in.Readers, how have you handled problematic emails in the past? Let us know in the comments section below