Academic Job Application Guidance
The Villanova Institute for Research and Scholarship has collaborated with CLASPS (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Post-doctoral Society) to design a two-part program to guide post-doctoral fellows and graduate students to a better understanding of what is expected in the job application process and ways to write effective cover letters when applying for academic positions. Tailored toward graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the the liberal arts and sciences, this two-part program may be useful to academic job-seekers across Villanova's colleges.
CLASPS is sponsoring a Cover Letter Panel, a conversation with CLAS faculty on the job application process and effective cover letters. To learn more and register, click the blue button below.
As a follow-up, VIRS is facilitating a feedback forum, a chance for participants to apply what they have learned in the panel to drafting their own cover letters and securing constructive feedback and suggestions for revision.
How will the feedback forum work?
Once registered, participants will be grouped into small cohorts of 3-4 people based on availability. A feedback forum will be scheduled for each cohort during March or April. Participants will be guided through a process of exchanging suggested improvements for each others' cover letters based on insights from the Cover Letter Panel and ideas for amplifying the applicant's attractiveness to a particular search. Feedback forums will be facilitated by VIRS.
What will be expected of me if I participate in the feedback forum?
- share a draft of your cover letter with members of your cohort
- review the cover letters of the 2-3 other members in your cohort
- provide written and oral revision suggestions during a scheduled feedback forum according to a feedback guide provided by VIRS
- agree to respect the intellectual property of other participants by not sharing beyond the cohort and not using others' drafts or portions of drafts in your own cover letter or any other work
What is the deadline to register?
To be included in a cohort, please register to participate by Tuesday, March 12th.
To register for the feedback forum, click the green button below.