In the comments section of our newest "how can we help you?" thread, Number Three asks: At what point should I stop asking dissertation committee members for letters of recommendation? Two years post-PhD? Four? More?
I will be curious to hear what other people think. However, my own thoughts (based on my seven-year experience on the market and time on three search committees) are these:
- It is not at all clear to me that you should ever stop using letters from your committee.
- But it is a good idea get additional outside letters to supplement them.
My only evidence for these two claims is admittedly anecdotal, but here it is…
First, at one point while I was on the market (my third or fourth year), I tried cutting out a couple of letters from my dissertation committee–because I had several outside letters and wasn't confident that one committee member had written the strongest letter anyway. That was my single worst year on the market (I recall getting no interviews that year). The next year, when I included those letters again (even though they were old), I got a number of interviews–and I used them for the rest of my time on the market, during which my number of interviews steadily increased. So, as a job-candidate at least, continuing to use letters from my committee never seemed to hurt me–but leaving them out did. In fact, it's entirely possible that some search committee members might have thought it a red flag of sorts, as in, "Hmm…why doesn't this guy have letters from all of his committee members? Did they not like him?"
Second, there is my experience on three search committees. I cannot ever recall thinking it strange that someone still had letters from their committee members. I might think it strange if someone who had been out on the market a while only had members from their committee–as getting outside letters is something candidates can do to improve their file. But even then, I'm not sure I would hold it against a candidate if they didn't. It is also good, of course, to get your letters updated if possible (it would be a bit odd to read letters written years ago, thought one letter like this appears to have worked for me!). Still, under no circumstances can I imagine myself as a search committee member thinking, "Why does this person still have letters from their committee?"
Finally, there is the vexing issue that many job-applications ask applicants to only supply three letters. If you have letters from your committee along with outside letters, what should you do? (For example, I had six or seven letters my last few years on the market). This isn't something I've ever heard a very good answer to, so if anyone has any helpful insight please do share! What I did, though, was include additional letters if an application portal allowed it (or if I had them sent from Interfolio), or alternatively, pick what I thought my three best letters were while noting in my CV and cover letter that I had additional references. This seemed to work just fine, though it was an annoying quandary to constantly find myself in.
Anyway, these are just my thoughts. What are yours on the reader's query, particularly those of you who have served on search committees?
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