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[juleb]

I'm an American who recently defended my Ph.D. here in the States. I'm married to an Australian, and I'm working on applying for several lecturer positions in Australia.

I've searched the forums, and it sounds like cover letters are written in a different style for Australian academic positions.  Typically, I write a narrative that addresses my teaching, research, and service for US positions.  However, I've noticed that a couple forum posts about Australian positions have referred to criteria and bullet points.  The Australian ads don't list them out in this format, however. 

But should I include bolded/bulleted criteria and more specific details about how I meet them in my cover letter?  What is acceptable to HR and the search committee?

Thank you!

[qrypt]

It might be worth having a look at the UK sub-board.  As I understand it, the Australian style of application is similar to the British, and so the advice there might well apply to your question about Australia.  In brief: you appear to have the right idea, though I'm not sure I'd go as far as bullet points and bold type.  But yes -- the point is to make it obvious to them how you meet the specified criteria.

[scampster]

I've searched the forums, and it sounds like cover letters are written in a different style for Australian academic positions.  Typically, I write a narrative that addresses my teaching, research, and service for US positions.  However, I've noticed that a couple forum posts about Australian positions have referred to criteria and bullet points.  The Australian ads don't list them out in this format, however. 

I'm an American applying for an Australian position at the moment myself and I was a little confused by the line in the job ad that said to explicitly address the selection criteria, because I didn't see explicit selection criteria besides the field and desired research areas. When I dug a little more, I found a more official job description that explicitly listed the selection criteria as bullet points. I didn't see this at first glance, so I would make sure you aren't missing them, rather than assuming that the Australian ads aren't listing them out in a bulleted format.

I am glad qrypt piped up, because I read the earlier posts about using a bullet list in my application letter as well, and that seemed weird, but I was in the middle of crafting my bullet listed cover letter. So it might be weird then if I bullet each selection criterion and then describe beneath it how I meet it?

Relatedly, the last selection criterion is:

"High level interpersonal, written and oral communication skills in English."

Do I have to explicitly address this criterion? Is my letter sufficient to address this point?

[qrypt]

To an extent (especially if you have reasonable job prospects in general), you might think about that last question in terms of the way it constitutes a test for them, not just for you. 

Let's say that you send a well-written application letter that doesn't say anything explicit about your English-language abilities.  Let's also be realistic and assume that the short-listing committee contains at least one genuine idiot, who says: "wait a minute -- we can't short-list this person, she hasn't told us that she has a high level of interpersonal, written and oral communication skills in English". 

If the rest of the committee can't tell this person to shut up and come to the appropriate conclusion from the more general qualities of your application, would you really want to work there? 

As for bullet points -- HR people have too much power in British (and one might assume Australian) universities, but shortlisting is still done by academics.  If it were done by the HR people, then, bullet points would be essential.  I think they are an inferior way of writing an application; they're not a problem (I wouldn't bin someone just because they use bullet points), but I think there are better ways of writing.

Then again, I'm originally from the US.

[scampster]

Thanks qrypt. I wasn't enjoying writing in bullet points, so I am glad to hear I can go back to a more narrative statement (albeit one that more explicitly uses the language in the selection criteria).

[scampster]

Er, another question (because obsessing about stupid details is what I do best!):

Should my letter parallel the criteria in the order they are listed? That would be my initial instinct, but the description lists the teaching criteria first, then the research criteria. This is a Go8 school, so if I were writing a letter free form, I would put research first, like I do for research unis in North America.

[runwithscissors]

Just my two pennies worth. I applied for two Australian jobs, one I was interviewed for (but didn't get). In the first application I had to write a brief cover letter and supply an additional document detailing exactly how I met the selection criteria (each was a bullet point with a paragraph or two's explanation). In the second I folded the description of my selection criteria-meeting skills into a narrative (US-style) - so it appears based on my n=2 experience that there are alternative styles, varying by university.

[scotia]

When applying for UK posts that indicate essential/desirable criteria I make a table that in the first column lists the criteria (headed 'Essential/Desirable Criteria") and in the second  gives examples of how I match the criteria (headed "How I match the criteria" - I am nothing if not prosaic). So, for example, if asked to demonstrate ""High level interpersonal, written and oral communication skills in English" I would put this in a box in the first column and in the second column write something like "Native speaker of English. Several articles accepted for internationally ranked journals. Experienced lecturer and often asked to get involved in presentations to new students and university applicants". If there are any desirable criteria I do not match I omit them. Also, because I have one essential criterion that I do not match I demonstrate how what I have done is equivalent to what is claimed as essential.

I then pick a few highlights to emphasise in my covering letter and refer to the table for further details. The table is designed to make it easy for the short-listing committee so they do not have to hunt through my CV or covering letter to find the information for themselves: it is summarised for them. I have had very positive feedback about this method of presenting information from the selection committees from all three institutions that have given me jobs.

I should mention that I am in a moderately technical sub-field so this may not appeal to all selection committees.

[figee]

Er, another question (because obsessing about stupid details is what I do best!):

Should my letter parallel the criteria in the order they are listed? That would be my initial instinct, but the description lists the teaching criteria first, then the research criteria. This is a Go8 school, so if I were writing a letter free form, I would put research first, like I do for research unis in North America.

G08 schools will still expect academics to do quite a bit of teaching.  If the position is a teaching/ research position, about 40% of your time will be teaching and 40% research.  I would make your application parallel the list as closely as possible, if only to make sure that you cover all of the selection criteria.

Remember to include evidence of your skills.  Don't just make the claim, show how this was done through your teaching, service or research. 

The 'high level interpersonal skills, written and oral communication skills' is as scotia said, but also put stuff in there about collaborative research or teaching, committee work etc etc.

[rosiescott]

Hello,

I am an American married to an Australian and I have been doing an onshore job search while completing another degree at an Australian university. It has been my understanding that applicants are expected to address each selection criteria in the cover letter. Using a bullet format will allow the search committee to quickly determine if the applicant has complied with that expectation.

Cheers and good luck with your search.

[silas]

I'm American trained and recently got a job at an Australian Uni. Not knowing about the difference in cover letters (the American style two pagers vs. their much briefer one) I just used my standard letter adapted to the generalities of the job. Since many of the Australian applicants don't do a lot of teaching on their way through this is a place to really let your classroom experience and curriculum design skills show through, especially since they won't ask to see syllabi or course proposals and the selection point about teaching will only be one small part of the criteria you need to address.

I also prepared a second document titled "Evidence in Support of the Selection Criteria" in which I used a combination of short paragraphs and some bulleted lists to show what aspects of my CV were relevant to their search criteria. If you're a recent grad, I would emphasize the grad school experiences you can draw from to help you be an effective post-grad supervisor. Since most Australian research students are left to fend for themselves and really only establish a "close" relationship with their immediate supervisor you can draw on your own grad coursework and the support systems we have in place for things like job market help to help you argue for why you have the knowledge, if not the experience, to satisfy that point.

Happy hunting.

[totoro]

If they ask you to address the selection criteria then I would recommend to find them (usually there is a link to a job description) and then answer them in order, noting which one you are addressing. However, some jobs at places that used to recruiting in the US market don't require this. At some places I suppose there is some risk of having your application thrown out by an HR for not being complete if you don't address the criteria explicitly, so I'd do it. At ANU say I wouldn't worry about it.