1. About
  2. Features
  3. Explore

We all know that usually when applying for a post phd academic position students need at least three recommendation letters. But what can we do if we have only worked with our advisor and we have no other close professors in the department to ask. This refers to the case when the student took classes, had a little teaching experience, but never got to the point to know some professor well, or collaborate with researchers from another place.

Some sub-questions: 1) how well does the writer need to know the student to write a decent recommendation? 2) how research recommendations are looked at when applying for purely teaching job? 3) how non-research recommendations are looked at when applying for research job? 4) what else can we do in a short period of time to acquire those recommendations? 5) is there a way to avoid submitting recommendations, at least in the first stage of the application process?

1 Answer 1

You could ask members of your doctoral committee to write you a letter of recommendation each. They would probably need some details about the job and what it entails. They would also want to see your transcripts and a copy of your curriculum vitae but that shouldn't be a biggy!

Research related recommendation letters are obviously great if you are applying for a research job. Either way, you could ask your advisor to write you a letter that carries a good balance of research aptitude and general work skills.

In my experience, it is difficult to get letters of recommendation on short notice. They could take a couple weeks to a month or so.

Good luck!