Applying for academic jobs and programs involves aggregating a variety of materials. Since 1999, millions of scholars have entrusted Interfolio with their career aspirations, using Interfolio’s Dossier to:
- Navigate stressful application processes
- Request, store, and send accurate and confidential letters
- Collect, curate, and prepare materials
- Send materials or collections for feedback and mentorship
The Interfolio team has hosted and fine-tuned these interactions and processes. This helps alleviate stress and facilitate preparation for our users so they can focus on the outcome of their efforts: getting to their next career milestone.
Here, we break down the five central benefits of an online scholar-focused dossier—and speculate about what a global network of digital academic portfolios could mean for networking and knowledge sharing.
Benefits of an Online Academic Dossier:
- An online dossier makes it possible to manage multiple confidential letters of recommendation for multiple applications. Surely this is the best-known purpose of an online academic dossier—and it’s a game-changer. Instead of asking letter writers over and over to submit letters to dozens of destinations, you can just ask each of them to submit one unaddressed letter (or several variants) to your dossier service. By making it easier for letter writers, you can maintain a stronger relationship with them—and you don’t have to constantly check in on whether or not a writer has completed their letter.
- It facilitates the sharing of materials for feedback in a relatively seamless way. The ability to send a digital copy of your CV or a collection of materials at the push of a button to anyone, anywhere, is an incredibly beneficial capability of online dossiers. Simply upload and then send mentors, advisors, or even a peer a copy of your application packet and receive their thoughts and feedback on how to put your best foot forward. And all the feedback is captured so you can easily accept and translate it—or pass on certain thoughts and ideas.
- It enables a scholar to apply to a large number of opportunities—and to apply on short notice. For a scholar who maintains an academic dossier online, the actual sending of application materials is simpler and quicker, with the ability to submit an application packet with a few clicks from anywhere. The time available to invest in the most substantive, meaningful aspects of your career management—to revise statements, research opportunities, learn about peers’ work, and attend events—can be severely constrained by the labor it takes to get all of your applications out the door.
- It gives scholars a place to store the most up-to-date versions of their own materials. If you use an online dossier service, you have a dedicated space for your career materials that is accessible from anywhere. Is an academic dossier service the only way to store your documents online? Of course not. But you gain the added benefit of a dedicated venue in which to organize your work, so you’ll know exactly where to go to find what you need.
- It gives scholars a consolidated historical record of their career steps. A dossier service makes for a more informed applicant. When you organize your job search, grant applications, or even a medical school portfolio online in this way, you can rely on a single place to reference any past attempts. It’ll help you remember which opportunities you applied for at which times, which materials were sent to which destinations, to whom you addressed a packet at a particular institution (and at what address), and similar details. The dossier service stores this information for you, making it easy to reference as needed.
Academics are highly qualified applicants in a very tight market—with limited time. With Interfolio’s Dossier, you can get a head start. By shortening the path from point A to point B, it affords individual scholars greater freedom to represent their contributions and character, and to make connections with the right collaborators. Plus, Dossier gives you access to an extensive database of academic positions, fellowships, and grants, so you can handle the entire process in one convenient location.
Interfolio’s Dossier enables scholars to collect, curate, polish, and submit their materials at all stages throughout their academic professional path.
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