[Grad-postdoc-assn] Advice on cover letters

[Valerie Sloan]

Good morning,

Thanks for the emails letting me know that it is helpful having resources
sent your way. I'm glad to hear it!
Here is a tip plus some good articles on writing cover letters, below.

*Writing Cover Letters*

*1. A Tip:* In order to show how you will actually meet the needs of the
employer, start each paragraph *using language from the job description* -
if there is enough detail in the job description to use. (Some faculty
postings are very general and only ask for people in certain fields.). For
example:

*"In terms of examining ___ (language from the ad) __, I have experience
using ___ (your experience, e.g. using models, satellite imagery, etc.)." *
OR

*"I have the necessary experience to ____ [language from the ad, e.g.
explore the impacts of volcanic eruptions on climate)] using ____[your own
experience or skills, e.g. modeling of data from ice cores]." *


*Connect the dots* for the employer so that they have less work to do
seeing how your experience matches what they are looking for. I recommend
doing this in any cover letter for any job!


*2. Research the employer! *What are they doing, what do you notice from
their website about their values, who works there, who are their
collaborators, students, clients?  Knowing more about them will help you to
write a better cover letter - you can see what to emphasize in your letter.
For example, if a department has a lot of seminars on impacts of and
adaptation to climate change, emphasize your connection to that. One of
employers' biggest complaints about job applicants in interviews is that
they haven't done their homework about the employer.


*3. Articles to look over:*

Cover Letters for Academic Positions
<https://grad.illinois.edu/sites/default/files/pdfs/academiccoverletters.pdf>
(a 2-page doc with tips + 2 examples)

This article in Inside Higher Ed
<https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2013/11/04/essay-cover-letter-academic-jobs>
says
that the cover letter should be between 1.5 and 2.0 pages long, no more and
no less. It is a helpful article, by the way, as it identifies the
different topics to cover in an academic cover letter.

Here is another good article from *Inside Higher Ed* on how to write a
successful cover letter
<https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/01/22/dos-and-donts-writing-cover-letter-academic-job-market-opinion>
that
has a lot of good strategies, like 'write from the perspective of being a
future colleague and not a student.'

The Professor Is In: Why Your Job Cover Letter Sucks and What You Can Do To
Fix It
<https://theprofessorisin.com/2016/08/26/why-your-job-cover-letter-sucks/>

Hope that this is helpful!

Take care, and have a good day!

Val

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Valerie Sloan, Ph.D.
NCAR Education & Outreach
National Center for Atmospheric Research
P.O. Box 3000
Boulder, CO 80307-3000
Office: 303-497-2752
Email: vsloan at ucar.edu
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