jobs applied for: 2
rejection letters: 2
essays marked: 50
9am
Despite it being the Easter Holidays and one of those allegedly quiet periods in a lecturer’s life, I am already in front of the computer. With the advent of electronic mail, we are on-call during the holidays and at evening and weekends, whenever our students need us.
It’s a difficult time for the academic jobseeker at the moment, many institutions are hiring at professor-level because they are worried about their research profile at the forthcoming research Assessment Exercise (RAE).
On a more positive note, got some great advice on how to improve the CV. Most job advertisements now include a list of points grandly called ‘the person specification’. Some employers directly relate these points to your personal statement or covering letter and tally up how many of the criteria you fit. And naturally, whichever five candidates get the highest marks, go through to interview. So, make sure you directly address each one of the points in ‘the person specification’ and relate them to your abilities. For more cool CV tips, see: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/careers/tips/ they are really useful because they are written by HR staff, the very people who have to handle your application packets.
Comment on this diary below:
For example: Do you see pastoral care of students as important? What effect do you think the RAE has had on hiring? What’s your best tip for improving an academic CV?
