Cover Letter Suggestions
Hints on writing your cover letter
This page is under construction and is being written by
Sam Buss.
Please send
comments/suggestions to
sbuss@ucsd.edu.
What to include in a cover letter
Every job application letter must include a cover letter.
Since the cover letter will be saved, often as the first item
in your application file, it should be attractive, readable and
informative. In addition, the cover letter and cover sheet are
usually used to
screen and categorize your application, so it is important that your
cover letter
be succinct and clear.
The following items should be included in your cover letter and/or
cover sheet for
academic job applications:
- What positions you are applying for.
- What your career goals are (eg, teaching, research,
tenure-track, etc.)
- Your educational background, including date of Ph.D. and your
current position.
- Your research area (eg., taken from the AMS
classifications). Often, this research area is used by a secretary
to classify your application---and you do NOT want to be
misclassified!
- How much teaching experience you have. (Such as number of
years or number of courses TA'ed or taught.)
- That you have already asked for letters of reference to be
sent directly from your letter writers.
- Other items specific to the job you are applying for. It's
good if you can sincerely state at least one reason you want the job
(eg., location, type of school, etc.).
When applying for a traditional academic position, you should fill
out the AMS's recommended cover
sheet and along with your cover letter.
Sending Form Letters.
Many people apply to a large number of schools, sometimes
even over 100. You are urged not to apply to jobs that you
are not interested in, or would not accept if offered. But after
that, there may still be a large number jobs to apply to.
Here is a latex file
which can be used to automatically generate large
numbers of letters as well as sheets of address labels that can be
xeroxed onto address label stickers. You should try to customize
each letter for the job you are applying to.
Author: Sam Buss, sbuss@ucsd.edu
Last updated: December 27, 1995.