ADVICE TO GRADUATING STUDENTS: PLEASE LEARN THE BASICS OF EMAIL, OF WHICH THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS . . .
. . . either ACCEPT or REJECT calendar invitations. I’ll go out on a limb and say not just the majority but the overwhelming majority of my students don’t do this – and they probably have never done it.
Let me be very clear: a calendar invitation is not an FYI. It is not a notification. It is not an email you read and move on from.
A calendar invitation is a request for a commitment!
- ACCEPT means: I will be there, you can count on me.
- DECLINE means: I cannot make it, please find another time
- NO RESPONSE means: I don’t respect your time enough to click one button
That’s how every manager, client, and colleague you will ever work with reads it. Every single one.
And here’s even more damage you can avoid: your response is visible. When someone sends a meeting to six people, they can see who accepted, who declined, and who ignored it. Guess whose name stands out? Not in a good way.
Final point: declining is not rude, it’s professional. Add a one-line reason (“exam conflict, could we do Thursday?”) and you’ve just shown more professionalism than most people manage in their first year of work. Silence is what’s rude: it says, your planning doesn’t matter to me.
Build this habit now, before you enter a workplace where it actually costs you something.
