How to show you’re the best person for the job

The 1946 Christmas classic It’s a wonderful life is a tear-jerker I watch every year. It’s the one in which Clarence Odbody, the wingless guardian angel, shows George Bailey, the suicidal banker-cum-community altruist, what life would be like if he hadn’t been born.

Well, if you’ve made a New Year’s resolution – perhaps to be promoted, to apply for a new role or to put in for an award or prize – then here’s a writing tip: imagine what life would have been like if you hadn’t been around. Then tell the people reading your application why and how you made life wonderful. Also, and very importantly, provide objective evidence showing how you did it.

I’ve been reading applications for promotion and for consideration for prizes and awards. It always surprises me that applicants don’t explicitly give proof of how they are meeting the set criteria, leaving it instead to the panel to read between the lines to understand for themselves why the applicant should get the job/promotion/award. Sadly, we don’t have Clarence’s supernatural insight to show us what life would have been like without your input – that’s what the application form, your academic CV and any other supporting tasks or documents are for. So, I beg you, please spell it out for us. Tell us what you did (briefly!), why you did it, how you did it and, most importantly, what metrics and evidence show that it was a success.

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In all applications word count is important so you will have to choose your words wisely. Use them to link your application to the criteria. But don’t just state that you meet the criterion or that you do something that might be considered under a specific criterion. You’ve got to make your case.

Let me give you some examples.

People write with pride that they sit on x, y and z committees. Great. So, what would happen if you weren’t on those committees? What does your presence on those committees bring to the university or to staff or students? Why do you sit on the committees, and what impact does it have on others, or on your own practice?

If you sit on staff-student liaison committees, do you hear good ideas from students in other courses and bring those back for discussion and potential implementation, appropriately amended for your course context, with your students? Has this resulted in enhanced student satisfaction metrics (internal or external surveys) or graduate outcomes measures? Perhaps it has enhanced student retention, progression or completion? Spell it out!

Applicants also say that they attended or organised x or y conference. Wonderful. Would the conference have happened without you? What changed as a result? Who did that affect – staff, students, other institutions – and how can you show that?

If you presented a paper at a conference, did you present an approach to people from the UK or also an international audience? How many? Were you invited or was it a peer-reviewed process? Did any of the audience contact you afterwards to find out more or to implement the approach in their context? Could you obtain any evidence of their success in implementing your approach? Did you write up the presentation in any way – a blog, conference proceedings or a published article?

Colleagues write that they have achieved a fellowship awarded by AdvanceHE. Excellent. To achieve their fellowship, those colleagues will have already written about how they supported teaching, learning or student experience at their institution and the impact it has had on students and staff. They should be able to articulate in their job/promotion/award application what they and their fellowship bring to the university and what it indicates.

For example, an Advance HE fellowship demonstrates a commitment to professionalism and provides recognition of practice, impact and leadership in teaching and learning. While a National Teaching Fellowship or a Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence recognises, rewards and celebrates individuals or teams who have made an outstanding impact on student outcomes and the teaching profession in UK higher education. So, I beseech you, don’t just write “I have a fellowship”! If nothing else, you should have moved on to mentoring others, and if you weren’t there, where would they be in their careers?

In the film Clarence leaves George a book with an inscription: “Remember, no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings!” Then a bell on the Christmas tree rings and George’s youngest daughter, Zuzu, declares: “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.” Clarence got his wings when he had successfully helped George see that his life helping the community was the life he wanted. It is not a bad thing to remember in higher education nor when we explain our role in the academic community or we apply for that job/promotion/award. It’s a wonderful life, because of us!

So, in 2024 let’s all aim to get our wings – that is our new jobs/promotions/awards – and then go help others get their wings, too.

Harriet Dunbar-Morris is pro vice-chancellor (academic) at the University of Buckingham.

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