Constructing a proper curriculum vitae, crafting an inviting, informative, and attractive cover letter, and writing an engaging account of your dissertation and why it is a sound and interesting piece of work are very important. You should also be able to state the essence of your research orally in a few engaging sentences--and to expand on what you say, in varying degrees, but only when it is pretty clear that the people you are conversing with want to hear it. Remember that at many colleges and universities, hiring committees will be interested in discovering that you are a sound scholar and an honest and reliable person generally. They will be less concerned to discover that your dissertation is a brilliant work that stands a good chance of revolutionizing its field.
Your cv, cover letter, and dissertation statement are crucially important documents. Accordingly, you should have them vetted, in several drafts if necessary, by at least one of your faculty advisers. Moreover, you should give these people, and yourself, enough time to ensure that the final draft is as good as it can be. Then, as you send out each application, you should carefully proofread everything, and possibly enlist a friend to cast an additional pair of eyes on these materials as well.
Remember that teaching is going to be of tremendous importance for almost all the faculty jobs for which you will be applying. On your cv you will of course indicate clearly your teaching experience. In addition, I strongly suggest that you construct a number of syllabi for courses that you would be interested in teaching (or might have to teach). There are the big bread-and-butter courses: the American survey, Western Civ, World Civ, and the like. Then there are somewhat more specialized courses in your major field, which you should strive to make as interesting to students as possible. Finally, imagine how you might teach a slightly out-of-the-ordinary course that students might love. E.g., a "History of Atrocity in the Twentieth Century," a course that I have just thought of at this very moment and which you are all welcome to steal, would nicely cover a wide range of European and world history in the previous century, and might well attract students interested in questions of human rights. I can well imagine that some students who would never dream of taking a course in "Twentieth-Century History" would take such a course.
The courses you propose might not even be history courses. Many small colleges have freshman seminars, where you might teach interesting novels, or a selection of works in political theory or philosophy, rather than straight history. Especially at smaller institutions, or at larger institutions that are not so research-oriented as UVa is, you may well find yourselves with wider opportunities for teaching than are normal here. And indeed, even at UVa and institutions like it, there is usually leeway for a slightly out-of-the-ordinary course.
The crucial thing is that the courses you propose should be interesting to you and potentially interesting to students. (Make it clear that if you miscalculate, you will try again with something else. It is not always easy to predict what will "work" in a specific context, especially when you know little about the students you might be teaching.) None of these draft syllabi need be for courses that you have actually taught (although some of them will be adapted from your experience as a grader or teaching assistant). But they do need to show that you have a basic knowledge of a good cross-section of the literature relevant to each course. The Web, which allows you to find syllabi on many topics, can be very helpful.
Since it is substantially improbable that any two UVa students will be in heavy competition with each other for any particular job, feel free to pool knowledge with colleagues whom you trust. I would only suggest that if you do find yourselves in competition with a colleague for a job, you should cease all communication with each other concerning that job. (I was on a search committee years ago at Iowa and it happened that two of the top candidates knew each other well. They discussed between themselves our dealings with them. We hired neither of them.)
Reference Letters
You will almost certainly want to use the Interfolio Credentials Service for storing and delivering your reference letters (and other credentials, if you wish). For more information see University Career Services.
You may want to ask your first reader, and even your second, both to put a letter into the Interfolio system, and to send out a letter specific to some, or even all, of your applications. This would be something to especially consider if you are making rapid progress with your dissertation-writing, and want hiring committees to have the latest news. You can tell Interfolio which letters you want sent out for each search.
Sample Documents
Addendum of June 2002: We have put three sample cv's, two sample cover letters, a sample syllabus, and a sample statement of teaching philosophy on the site. Feel free to print out these documents so that you can read them at leisure. However, be sure to treat them as confidential documents not to be circulated.
- Statement of Educational Philosophy
- Sample Syllabi
Of course, you have to think through and work out your own documents yourself, so that they reflect your own personality, skills, and expertise. But the samples will perhaps give you some initial guidance with regard to form.
We strongly recommend that you prepare your cv and cover letter well before the last minute. We also strongly recommend that you have one or two faculty members read your materials carefully and critically. Certainly call on your adviser, but remember that someone who knows you less well than does your adviser may be able to see things that your adviser can't.
Please contact the department placement officer for help with your documents and for editorial advice.