I had a coworker once who hated it when she got somebody’s out of office message. I asked her why it got her so bent out of shape. “Because then I have to wait until they get back to send the message again!”
Related Articles How to Set Up an Out of Office Reply in Outlook With an IMAP/POP3 Account How to Get Your Business on Google How to Back Up Your WordPress Site Manually How to Change Font in WordPress CategoriesBusiness Technology (5)Computers (106)Mobile & Tablets (48)Printers (5)Smart Home (38)TV & Home Theater (38)WiFi & Networking (20)
.
Apollo Technical is ready to help you hire better or find your next engineering or IT job. We've got a lot of advice to share about hiring and careers in engineering and IT.
About Us Advertise With Us Write For Us | Guest Post Contribution TERMS AND CONDITIONS Privacy Policy Sample Resumes Menu Home Courses Digital Marketing Courses Chatbot Courses YouTube & Video Marketing BIM Courses & Tutorials Mooc Courses Programming Sample Resumes Blog Placement Process & Papers
Not every vacation you take is going to leave you completely unreachable. For those days when you’re out of the office but are still checking and responding to email or phone calls, make sure your message explicitly states that people will still be able to reach you, and how:
An out-of-office message is an automatic email sent by an email account that is temporarily not being checked by its owner. Every new email to this account will trigger the out-of-office message, which is sent directly to the original email's sender. Most email service providers allow you to activate this option and customize your message.
And yet regardless of your job description, the humble OOO can do much more besides simply telling people not to expect a prompt reply. Crafted subtly enough, it can even drum up business for you. While they wait for you to respond, perhaps they’d like to check out your new website or sign up for your monthly newsletter?
No need to go into great detail that you're traveling to seven different European countries. Simply state whether you're on vacation, at a conference, or on a business trip. This will give the sender a general idea of whether you're be checking your email while you're out. "I'm currently on vacation/at a conference/on a business trip."
Over Twitter DMs, one woman sent me her OOO messages from when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The messages — composed while she was undergoing chemotherapy treatments and recovering from surgery — were detailed and unique. They offered touches of humor, honesty, details about her treatment schedules and set expectations for others trying to reach her. She offered alternative contact options for potential emailers to make sure urgent requests didn’t fall through the cracks but offered a dose or reality as well. I particularly appreciated this line:
Just say you’re away from your desk! Or if you’re out for more than a day, just say you’re “away” until XYZ date.
It was just this colleague – it (thankfully) wasn’t the culture of the office, and I never saw anyone else abuse the OOO like this.
Think about your tone and mood - you don't know who'll be getting these out of office auto reply emails so be mindful of the impression you make. Think of the boss, the CEO, a colleague you like, family members, clients you like. That said, there are some bridge-burner examples below to tempt you!
When one of my colleagues is out of the office, he doesn’t mess around. In fact, he’s turned his auto-responses into a running series of commentary from fictional cartoon character Troy McClure.
EnergyFinancialsHealthIndustrialsMediaProfessional ServicesRetail & ConsumerTech SectorTelecomsTransportTech
If you know that you’re going to be out of office for a long time, it’s worth thinking about redirecting your clients to your colleague. Mention their name, explain what position they occupy and how they can help your client. Include a way to contact them in the form of an email address or a phone number. Just try to warn a colleague that you want to redirect your clients to them before going on a vacation.
Once you’ve finally crossed off those last-minute items on your to-do list and are ready to check out of work mode for while, there’s just one last thing you need to do – set your out-of-office message.
A client rings to tell you your out-of-office message has a typo in it, or, worse, is mind-numbingly boring. Suddenly you’re wrenched out of holiday mode and back into the throes of work, weeping as you log back into your email server to change your response as your shandy grows warm and flat.