Dr. Write-Aid

In continuing to post about writing resources, here’s a roundup of academic and industry job application guides, writing samples, and other writing resources that I’ve personally found useful in my own job search and in working with clients.

Some of these resources are geared towards graduate students and academic jobs, but all of these guides would be useful for anyone, no matter what stage of job hunting you’re in.

I’ve added some short comments to explain what I like about the resources as well!

I hope to keep this list updated, so please email me at doreen@drwriteaid.com if any links are broken or if you have suggestions for other resources. 

If you find this list helpful, please share with your friends, students, colleagues, and so on! 

Career Exploration & Networking

• Networking guide – General overview of what networking is, what informational interviews are (basically talking with someone to learn about their career trajectories and current jobs), and how to get started via social media and alumni networks.  https://career.ucsd.edu/succeed-search/network/index.html
• Informational interview worksheet – Pretty detailed walkthrough of how to start informational interviews from step 1. Useful to pick a question and start brainstorming. https://career.ucsd.edu/_files/Triton-Career-Guide-informational-interview-worksheet.pdf 
• Informational interviewing guide and sample – Straightforward steps to start informational interview; much shorter than the worksheet listed above so use this if you’re ready to start. Also includes links to sample email and question templates, which I find useful. https://career.berkeley.edu/start-exploring/informational-interviews/
• Masterlist of resources – Imagine PhD website is super useful for graduate students. Making an account is free and then you can check out all the industry/discipline specific clusters: https://www.imaginephd.com/about

Academic Job Exploration 

• Academic Job Search Guide – Great comprehensive overview from before you start on the job market as a second year graduate student to deep in the weeds of the job search. There’s a lot of info that can be overwhelming but better to start reading it now: https://career.berkeley.edu/grad-students-postdocs/academic-job-search/ 
• Academic Job Search – Overview of the hiring process:  https://career.berkeley.edu/grad-students-postdocs/academic-job-search/the-hiring-process-from-the-other-side/ 
• Job portals – American Sociology Association Jobs Bank: https://www.asanet.org/academic-professional-resources/career-center/ 
• Job portals – Chronicle of Higher Education: https://jobs.chronicle.com/?_gl=1*lm25id*_ga*MTcxMDg4ODYxMC4xNzQ0MzI5MDQw*_ga_WPH6W31S6Y*MTc0NDMyOTAzOS4xLjAuMTc0NDMyOTAzOS42MC4wLjA. 
• Job portals – Higher Ed Jobs: http://www.higheredjobs.com
• Inside Higher Education: http://careers.insidehighered.com
• Sociology Job Seminar website – General overview put together by a UCSD Soc professor; originally for a seminar workshop but has some useful links. http://majorsmatter.net/jobs/

Writing Resumes

• Resume guide – Straightforward list of starting strategies with links to samples, useful phrases, FAQ, etc. This is a really comprehensive guide and would be useful for everyone across different backgrounds. I really recommend exploring the Berkeley Career Center website because they have a lot of useful things on there.  https://career.berkeley.edu/prepare-for-success/resumes/ 
• List of action verbs that you can use in your resume or CV – https://career.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/Action-Word-List.png 
• Resume guide – Quick and simple guide with a video:  https://career.ucsd.edu/succeed-search/resume/index.html
• Sample resumes based on different student portfolios (transfer student, first year student, Master’s student, etc.) and sample CV – https://career.berkeley.edu/prepare-for-success/resumes/sample-resumes/ 
• Resume writing guide for humanities PhDs – Nice guide for understanding how to organize your experiences. See file below:

Writing CVs

• CV guide – Pretty detailed guide for what sections to have and what to put in them. https://grad.illinois.edu/professional-development/faculty-hiring/curriculum-vitae 
• CV guide and sample CV – Clear handout with sample CV. https://grad.illinois.edu/document/student-success/curriculum-vitae-tips-and-samples 
• Very detailed CV guide, part 1 – https://career.berkeley.edu/grad-students-postdocs/academic-job-search/the-cv-part-1-overview/ 
• Very detailed CV guide, part 2 – https://career.berkeley.edu/grad-students-postdocs/academic-job-search/the-cv-part-2-elements/ 

Writing Cover Letters

• Extremely detailed cover letter guide – https://career.berkeley.edu/grad-students-postdocs/academic-job-search/the-cover-letter/ 
• Great guide and samples to writing cover letters and CVs – I especially like the action verb bank and I share this document all the time with clients: https://hwpi.harvard.edu/files/ocs/files/gsas-cvs-and-cover-letters.pdf 
• Nice sample cover letter for something concise and simple. Probably wouldn’t recommend this for more complex job descriptions, but this is a nice start for job searches that would prefer a short cover letter. See file below:

• Transferable skills for humanities PhDs – very useful for thinking about your own experiences for writing cover letters, resumes, and CVs. See file below:

Writing Diversity Statements

• Diversity Statement Guidelines with different samples based on discipline – https://facultydiversity.ucsd.edu/recruitment/contributions-to-diversity.html
• Super helpful outline and description of different types of activities. I always share this with clients; use the categories outlined and the keywords like “mentoring,” “educational outreach,” “recruiting,” etc. – https://facultydiversity.ucsd.edu/recruitment/files-recruitmentpage/c2d-guidelines.pdf
• Guidance for Writing Inclusive Excellence Activities Statement – Includes lots of specific examples and explanation for each – https://ap.uci.edu/faculty/guidance/ieactivities/

Writing Teaching Statements

• Guide to the reflective teaching statement – Also includes examples and explanations for what is effective in the writing. https://ap.uci.edu/faculty/guidance/teachstatement/

Interviewing

• BigInterview has basically everything you need to prep for interviews. Log in with your institutional email for free access. What I like about this site is it lets you practice answering to recorded interview questions and you can record your answers so you can see what you want to work on. https://www.biginterview.com/
• Interview tips – In my opinion these tips apply for all kinds of interviews, meetings, presentations and discussions: https://career.ucsd.edu/succeed-search/interview-tips/index.html

I hope to compile my next writing resource masterlist for research-related tools so hope to get that up soon. What are some writing guides or resources you enjoy using? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Until we meet again!