Do too many signature credentials smack of pretension?

Is it wrong or pretentious to list initials for your credentials in the signatures to your letters, emails or texts?

A reader we’re calling Thoth wrote asking if there was anything wrong with listing acronyms for degrees or licenses earned in your correspondence, particularly if the correspondence is not work-related. My sense from his email was that Thoth found it fine to include such credentials in work-related emails, texts or letters, but that including it in personal correspondence was a bit much.

Most businesses don’t have a policy dictating whether an employee should list their credentials in the signature to their correspondence. At any academic institution where I’ve worked, the decision whether to do so or not has been left up to each individual. Some of my colleagues include credentials (often several), while others like me don’t.

Including credentials for professional correspondence can certainly make sense. It can be a way of establishing credibility with the recipient…if the recipient actually knows what the many acronyms for various degrees and certifications mean. A link to a bio on the company website might be a better way to do this, but there’s nothing wrong with listing your credentials as long as they are accurate.

There’s also nothing wrong with not including every degree and credential you’ve earned in your signature. Presumably, there are stronger ways to exhibit credibility with the recipients of your correspondence. While they might want to work with someone who is well-trained, typically they are more likely to be impressed with the actual work you’ve done rather than the initials you’ve earned along the way.

If you check out sites like Quora and Reddit, there are long discussion threads about whether it is ever OK to list honorary doctoral degrees as a credential. Since these degrees are not earned but are offered as an honor to those an institution has deemed to have done something notable, it can be misleading to use “Dr.” before your name if that doctorate was honorary. The one exception is the institution that awarded you the honorary degree. It very likely will address you as “Dr.” to further signify the honor.

The right thing is for each individual to decide how useful or meaningful it is to include credentials in professional correspondence signatures. Even if some recipients might find it pretentious, it’s up to the individual to make the decision what to include as long as what’s included is accurate and doesn’t run afoul of any company policies.

Personal correspondence signatures are a bit different. It seems a bit over the top to include all of your credentials in the signature to an email you write to your book club or an old friend. The challenge for those using their business email for personal correspondence is that there is often a default signature set up that gets created with each email sent. Still, it might be worth editing the excess from those default signatures, or to consider using a personal email account for personal email.

We can’t always control what others will find pretentious. But the right thing is to try to control that any trappings surrounding the messages we send don’t get in the way of the message we would like to be received.

Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of "The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice," is a senior lecturer in public policy, emeritus, at Harvard's Kennedy School. He is also the administrator of www.jeffreyseglin.com, a blog focused on ethical issues. 

Do you have ethical questions that you need to have answered? Send them to jeffreyseglin@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @jseglin

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