Recently, as I applied for a tenure-track position, I struggled to put together a cover letter. For some reason, creating a cover letter for a faculty position was more difficult than the countless cover letters I had put together for jobs at firms as a law student. I had gone through several drafts, still not quite saying what I needed to say.
When a mentor reviewed my third cover letter draft, she said “I don’t know, it needs more specific facts.” And it hit me—I need to do more legal analysis!
As academic and bar success professionals, we are experts at good legal analysis and writing, especially in our ability to tie law and facts together—and to teach others to do so. And we should be using the same skills to write our own cover letters or review them for colleagues applying for faculty positions. So how do we do that?
- “Rules of Law” – Use the specific terms and phrases from the required and recommended qualifications in the relevant job posting as your rules of law—the key things you need to tie your experience and plans to. Faculty committees will use your cover letter and resume to see how well you meet the qualifications of the job posting. And just like a professor on an exam wants a student to state rules back to them before applying to facts, you should do the same for the committee members reviewing your application materials.
- Specific Facts – Use specific facts rather than generalizations to make your point that you are a good fit for the job. Have data? Use it. Have examples from class? Use them. Anything that can help you more specifically identify the ways in which you meet the rules of law—use them. Include at least two to three specific facts that help demonstrate how things you have accomplished meet each “rule of law” from the job posting.
- Tie Them Together – Make sure you are using good legal analysis to tie your “rules of law” to your specific facts. And don’t forget to because, which I am using here as a verb. Use “because” or other connection words like “therefore,” “when,” and “since” to show how you have specifically met the criteria for their job posting. Just like we tell students, show your math.
Use your expertise in legal analysis and set yourself up for an invite to the next stage of the interview process: the screening interview. Remember, we are masters of legal analysis skills—so why not showcase them?
(Erica M. Lux)
