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Prepare your application documents. Follow the job application instructions exactly.
Though application requirements may vary by school, there are common documents you can expect to need, including: An updated resume. Make sure your resume reflects your most recent education, awards, and activities and that it's completely error-free. Remove any old or irrelevant information. For details on writing your resume, see How to Write a Resume. A cover letter. Your cover letter should be specific to each job and should discuss your interest in and qualification for the specific job to which you're applying. For more information on writing a cover letter, see How to Write a Cover Letter. A teaching statement. Your teaching statement should state your goals, reasons for pursuing teaching, teaching/pedagogical philosophy, teaching methodology, and goals. A teaching statement should identify your teaching interests and goals, concrete examples of how you have and will accomplish those goals, discuss with specific examples issues you've faced and resolved in the classroom, which courses you're interested in teaching, and strong and supportive statements from student evaluations, if available. References. Many job postings will want you to include a list of references; your reference list should provide the name and contact information of professionals who know your work well and can offer you a positive recommendation. Be sure to ask each reference if you may list them before doing so. When you've found a job to which you plan to apply, read the application and its requirements carefully and fulfill them exactly. Be sure you meet all of the qualifications and that you submit all of your materials by the deadline. Keep a careful record of the jobs to which you've applied and the responses you've received to avoid applying to the same job twice or forgetting where you applied if you get a request for an interview or for more information.