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I applied for a tenure track job, and was recently told that I would be better qualified for a different TT job in the same department and should apply for that position. The person who contacted me said they are on both committees. Do I need to write a completely different cover letter? The template of my letter makes sense, so I'd essentially just be rephrasing the letter with generally the same content. I don't know if that looks any better though since I could add some new information but I'd still want to hit the same points as in my previous letter. Or is it possible that they wouldn't even remember my original materials anyway?

PS, on top of that the job descriptions aren't all that different so I'm not even sure how I would make a new letter more specific. Literally like the only thing different is the title of the position and that the candidate should "have a background in X." Just based on principle, I don't know if a new letter is necessary.

  • I would just ask that person how to proceed, e.g. "Thanks for the suggestion. Please do consider me for the other job. Do I need to resubmit the whole kaboodle, with a new cover letter?" I think the answer will be, "No need to resubmit, your email was sufficient. Thanks for your flexibility." – aparente001 Feb 25 '17 at 01:44
  • What they wrote was

    "You applied for X position that was posted. I am serving on both of these committees, and I noticed based on your qualifications that perhaps you would be a good fit for the Y position that was also posted. If you are interested in Y position, I invite you to apply for that position, as you would need to submit them to the Y listing in order for your materials to be considered. Thank you for letting me know."

    It seems I have to explicitly reapply. I don't know reading this back now though if I'm out of the first running, or would be considered for both?

     –  Feb 25 '17 at 01:51
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    Okay, apparently they have some kind of database and in order to be considered for Y, you have to resubmit. I think you can reuse everything but in your cover letter replace X with Y. The goal is to get into the right slot in the database. However, it sounds like the human beings on the committee are already informally considering you for Y. – aparente001 Feb 25 '17 at 02:03
  • Does your existing letter make it explicit that you have a background in X? – Nate Eldredge Feb 25 '17 at 02:08

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