silly question: how to package application?

silly question: how to package application?

another-anon (guest) 13 Oct 2010 22:54

I'm applying for a job at the institution where I'm currently postdoc-ing. The job ad states that candidates can apply via email or by mail. I'm planning on printing out my materials and dropping them off in my department's main office, and I'm wondering how to package the material. Should I put everything in a nice folder, or use a plain manila envelope, or just naked paper with a binder clips? I realize this is a very trivial question but for some reason I am obsessing over it.

anony (guest) 13 Oct 2010 23:27

I would package it as if you were sending it in the mail. Would hate for it to get misplaced.

some_guy (guest) 14 Oct 2010 04:05

My take would be email it. If electronic delivery (email or online) is offered as an option odds are the search committee would prefer to receive it that way as it makes distribution a piece of cake. But if you really want to deliver it in person I'd do so in an envelope marked as if posting it.

another-anon (guest) 14 Oct 2010 17:05

That's an interesting point. My fear was that emailing it was riskier because the formatting could get messed up (I'd be attaching docx files from a Mac which could, who knows, might print out differently on another computer) and what if the email somehow gets lost? But now I'm rethinking. Would it be too annoying to email AND drop off a hard copy?

anon anon (guest) 14 Oct 2010 17:17

When sending via email you should always send as a .pdf. Your Mac will easily convert.

another-anon (guest) 14 Oct 2010 17:23

Would you send a cover letter as its own .pdf file or just cut-and-paste the text of the cover letter into an email?

dev.anon (guest) 14 Oct 2010 18:51

I attach my cover letter as a pdf file, and then write a brief message in the email about my applications materials being attached. So far I've been sending one pdf file that includes the cover letter, CV, research and teaching statements, and then another pdf file with my reprints. Thinking about it again, I guess this could get annoying if the committee wanted to just print off my CV, for example….hopefully, it's not a problem though. I thought this was better than having 8 different attachments.

anony (guest) 15 Oct 2010 00:49

I send cover letter as a PDF file. All my documents are sent as separate files, unless specifically asked to put into one file.

another-anon (guest) 15 Oct 2010 17:33

Thanks to all who offered suggestions. I ended up dropping off the materials in a plain manila envelope, labeled as though I was going to mail it, and then followed up with an email that contained two pdf attachments (one with my cover letter, CV, etc., and one with recent scholarly papers). I feel like I covered my bases - we'll see.