As part of the PolMig recruitment process, we received 300 applications. We ended up reading a lot of cover letters. In a post on Linked In, Franzisca Zanker summarises her top tips when writing cover letters.
February 2025
➡️ 🎓 Cover letters in the academic job market: I have recently hired three new academic staff members – two post-docs and a PhD student. I look forward to the privilege of working together with them in the coming months.
There were hundreds of wonderful, smart, creative and energetic people who were interested in applying; in the end, we received 300 applications. Reading through so many applications, let me share some of my top tips on what makes a good motivation letter:
1. Keep your motivation letter to max. 2 pages, preferably 1.5. You should be able to convey your core profile and interests in a short space, especially when recruiters are reading hundreds of letters. Short, concise and clear messages are the ticket.
2. Do not use overly flowery, jargon-y language with little meaning – if I need to read your sentence 2-3 x to understand it then I can’t get to know you and your profile properly. It also sounds like it has been AI-generated.
3. It is wonderful if you share the interests of the research project /field that the job ad is looking for, but please show the reader how exactly your work corresponds to this claimed interests. Too often, claims in the cover letter did not correspond with the CV or publication list.
4. If you are applying for a postdoc, don’t forget to include a couple of sentences on what your PhD was about (even if a few years back). This is a major milestone in the life of an academic, I want to hear what you worked on and why it was an exciting topic.
5. Personalise your letters a little – I know the job market is dire, and you may be applying for lots of jobs, but – and especially if you are genuinely interested in the job – do your homework and find out a little bit about the host institution and the person(s) you will be working with. Maybe they ran an event you thought was interesting, someone wrote a paper you liked, or you once got a book out of their library and were inspired by the interior design. Don’t just copy the basic information that’s provided on the job ad. I want to know why you want to work with us.
Academic job markets can be so brutal and equally the work we can end up doing can be so fulfilling, so to all of you currently writing applications, I hope some of this advice may help you to fine-tune your cover-letters to let you shine. ✨