A thread on how-tos of cover letter for recent #PhD graduates applying for #faculty jobs right now. @AcademicChatter #AcademicTwitter #phdlife #phdchat No need to continue reading if you already had an interview. This thread is for people who are doing all the right things(1/n)

(applying for positions in their area of expertise in research universities, have published in relevant journals, have some teaching experience) but end up not getting shortlisted. I do not have to tell you that the #jobmarket is brutal right now (2/n). #academia #AcademicFreeze

Just avoid making the following assumptions and mistakes. –none of this is fictional. I read or heard them all- 1) “I don’t feel comfortable selling myself. They can see what I’ve done on my CV”. Selling yourself is actually awful #advice (3/n) #AcademicTwitter #AcademicFreezeNOW

In your letter, not only you must highlight your accomplishments but also show how they correspond to the advertised position (demonstrating the fit). 2) “I just finished my #PhD, so I will tell them about my marvelous dissertation in 3 paragraphs”. (4/n) #PhDone #PhDposition

Hiring committees actually don’t care what your dissertation is. They are hiring a colleague and only care about what it does (how it contributes to research, where it was/will be published). You also need a second project. It's likely that it will be super preliminary (5/n)

but it cannot simply be an extension of your #PhD work. 3) “I’m applying to a research uni so I don’t have to talk about teaching. I'll briefly talk about my #teaching philosophy”. Wrong. You will have to teach and the committee wants to see where, what, and how you taught (6/n)

how your students liked it ( #Bias in #student evaluations is for another day) and what you propose to teach there. Talking about your approach to teaching briefly is fine but be as concrete as possible. #teachinghacks (7/n)

4) Never end a letter with "My family is from there and I want to live there” or “your department has a great reputation and it would be an honor for me to a professor there”. End your letter forcefully. In the final paragraph, answer the following questions: (8/n).

What kind of academic are you? Why should they want you? What can you bring to the department, to the faculty of the university? For more information, absolutely see the work by @ProfessorIsIn @loleen_berdahl @JonathanMalloy (9/n)

Deciding to do sth outside of academia is just fine.If I had not gotten my current job, I was planning to start a business that had nothing to do with #research & #academia. Who to follow on this: @clcaterine @cjcornthwaite @AltacJobs @BeyondProf @PFforPhDs @ThinkAheadSheff (end)