It’s not uncommon to have two or more e-mail addresses and Web-based addresses are handy for those on the move, or as a back-up in case you can’t access your inbox one day. They also offer an e-mail address for life – when you leave one company for another, you can’t take your business e-mail address with you, but you can keep a Web-based one throughout your career.
Setting one up is easy and won’t cost you anything. Go to one of the sites that offers the service, register as a new user and you will be asked for a user name, password and address (it will tell you straight away whether the name and address you have chosen has been taken or not – if it has, just choose another).
Once you have a user name and password you can log on to the site at any time of the day or night and either send or check your e-mail.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
You don’t need special software such as Outlook to access or send e-mails – as along as you can access the Internet, you’ll be able to access your e-mail.
The biggest free e-mail service is Hotmail (www.hotmail.com), which has 70 million active users. Yahoo at www.yahoo.com offers another good service.
