Job Placement

Dossiers

The Department of English does not handle placement services for Ph.D. students. Students may wish to investigate professional dossier services available online. 

Possible pieces for student dossiers

a. Dossier

• cover page with list of contents for dossier
• application letter
• vita
• transcripts
• recommendations section:
  • confidentiality statement
  • cover page identifying faculty recommenders (written by candidate)
  • recommendation letters
• writing sample

b. Appendix

• research statement
• teaching portfolio
• a teaching philosophy (1 page)
• a brief comment (1 paragraph) on each class for which materials are submitted
• representative course materials (syllabi, assignments, exams, maybe a few handouts)
• representative evaluation comments (1 page)
• a table of quantitative data from the evaluations
• professional portfolio

Mentoring

To ensure that dossiers look as good as possible, students may want to ask for help in their job search efforts. This help will probably come from mentoring done by POS chairs during the search process. If the POS chair is unable to perform this mentoring, Ph.D. students should check with the Director of Graduate Education, who will put them in touch with a member of the departmental faculty who can serve as an alternate mentor.

Students may also wish to contact LAS Career Services (202 Catt Hall, 294-4841, lascs@iastate.edu). That office might be able to offer aid in looking for non-academic positions.

Job listings

Students may access the MLA Job Information List using the departmental access code. Please check with the Graduate Secretary to acquire access. Job listings sent to the department are often posted on department bulletin boards or via email.