About to send me your CV?

hansrajt — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 13:53:48 +0000

In the past I always felt bad ignoring emails from clueless students seeking internship or a PhD position; I was a clueless student myself once, seeking internship or a Phd position!. So I decided to make this page. Now if you address me as “Prof. Tiwary” and ask for a PhD position in my group, I can safely assume that you haven’t even looked at this webpage. I can then press delete without feeling bad for you.

I am a postdoctoral researcher and generally cannot hire you in any position! Keep that in mind before you fire off an email. (Here’s what I am interested in!) If you find it interesting as well, there is no harm dropping me an email and checking. I might pass your CV on to my host.

I might still not reply. This is specially true if your email makes me think that the only thing you looked at is my email address. Once more: I am not a Professor yet! Also, my areas of interest (or that of anyone in our group) include neither Databases, nor compiler design, nor computer graphics, nor Operating Systems, etc. I may reply if you have a specific question about applying to a group that I am familiar with.

Once again: This will not improve your chances anywhere since I cannot affect any hiring process!

Now something a bit more helpful for your email:

Make it personalized. Do a bit of research about what your target group/person does. Even if I could hire you, it doesn’t help your case if you proclaim that your research interests align with me and then proceed on to tell me that you would like to work in the field of AI.

Write clearly and concisely. Get someone to proof-read your email. I get many emails from students in countries where English is not the native tongue. Bad language will probably put people off. Ask a friend for help.

Write clearly and concisely. Don’t write about how you were the head of the debate society. Perhaps it could be useful in your cover letter when you send a formal application. I don’t see why anyone hiring you for research would care though.

Ask specific questions! Asking me to “offer advice for applying” is silly. I don’t get paid to offer advice to future applicants. Chances are, that no one is getting paid to do that if you write to a small group.

All the best!

Hans Raj Tiwary

About to send me your CV?