I wouldn’t recommend changing the way you work to appease potential writers - if you do good stuff and you believe in it, it tends to shine through, even if one of your letters is not all rainbows and butterflies or your role in that one committee wasn't super clear. Good luck! 7/7

An example of that for me was writing a single-author paper as junior faculty; I was told that the lack of it could be perceived as a weakness bc my committee would be made up of people in very different fields, so I did it, and I might not have done it otherwise, but I also could see the point. 6/

That said, from your perspective, I would focus on what I can control and is worth it - keeping a running list of potential letter writers if possible, and addressing any potential glaring weakness early. 5/

Even in the best case scenario, there will be a range of level of detail and effort placed in the letters, and reasonable committees will also understand that and filter out irrelevant information. 4/

They'll look for your papers, understand your trajectory, and the long-term arc of your work; they'll see track record but also evaluate potential, and put this in context of your current job (e.g., considering developing new directions, mentoring students, and other efforts appropriately). 3/

A good evaluator will understand that the criteria used at an R1 (and even more so, at a very well resourced place) are not the same as a place that has a much higher teaching and service load and/or many fewer resources. They will make efforts: 2/

You have lots of amazing answers already (the thread by Jacqueline especially resonated with me, but many others made great points). I think most importantly, if you have the chance to give input on your letter writers, you want people who can put things in perspective. 1/

Also, I expect that as a [full prof etc] you are now overthinking why your friend is not replying, sorry I don't make the rules

I would go Dear Firstname instead of Dear Dr Lastname, but not hey. Although I am collecting letters right now and I see a whole spectrum - from ppl I don't know not addressing me at all to people I know going Dear Dr A. No reasonable person would let this affect their assessment of the candidate 🙂

Not sure if it fixes everything but I've never been hurt by falling wine containers so I'll say that my practice is rooted in evidence

That's why I stay away from water. Dangerous stuff. Sorry to hear Saavik!

No worries, I had fun with it. We can all take ourselves a bit less seriously

Haha love the shout-out but utterly unknown was a bit harsh 😂

Thank you thank you 🤩🤗

🥳🥳🥳

This was amazing! My daughter (9) and I just finished watching and she was super interested and delighted.

Awww! Such cutie pies!!!

But don’t forget that we are in those glorious three weeks where the UK is only 4 hrs ahead 😅