Writing Center Consultant Application

We’re currently hiring for the Fall 2024 semester (and beyond). The hiring procedure starts as soon as you submit the application form linked below. Do read everything between here and there.

Writing Center consultation requires three primary characteristics or attributes of its potential hires:

1. A good understanding of the conventions of academic writing (preferably across the disciplines);
2. Great interpersonal communication skills; and
3. A high degree of motivation toward helping people understand how to communicate more effectively.

Ideally, we’d also like people with whom we can work: great colleagues in a community of shared practice.

All positions require roughly 52 hours of work per semester. You will be scheduled four hours of consultation per week, and there will be additional time for staff meetings and workshops. First-semester consultants are required to take ENG 403: Practicum in Writing Consultation (1 credit) during their first semester.  As we typically hire during the spring semester, the course and first semester of consulting will be in the following fall.

There are four stages to the hiring process: application, mock consultation, consultant interview, and director interview. Most candidates go through the process and know their status (hired/not hired) by the end of April. However, we can extend the process into the summer. No hiring will be done after August 15th.

In order to be considered for the consultant position, applicants must submit the following materials (except the application form) by email to write@truman.edu:

1. The online application linked at the bottom of this page.
2. A letter of recommendation from Truman faculty (preferred), faculty from other colleges or universities, or high school instructors. The letter of rec should focus on those three criteria listed above.
3. Two writing samples 4-15 pages in length each. These should be scholarly works.  One may be creative prose.  These should be examples of your best writing and thinking.
4. A letter of application describing your interest in the position.

If you haven’t heard from us within a week of your application submission, you may wish to email write@truman.edu requesting further information. Please note that all application materials will be shared only with current Writing Center consultants and the Director.

Not everyone will make it to the mock consultation/interview stage. If you don’t, it doesn’t mean that you’re a terrible candidate. It might simply mean that your application materials and/or mock consultation were just a tiny bit less impressive than the candidates who did make it. It’s also possible that you applied for institutional compensation (rather than scholarship or work-study hours), and we don’t have the institutional budget to hire you. Keep in mind that we hire as we go along. We may hire a candidate before other candidates are even aware of the job opening, so don’t delay the application. You don’t have to submit everything at once. If we don’t hire you for whatever reason, apply next year (if possible).

Candidates who do make it to the interview/mock stage will interview a current writing consultant and go through a mock consultation with a current consultant. Candidates who successfully make it through this stage will then interview with the Director.

If you have further questions, email us at write@truman.edu or stop by PML 107.

By filling out and submitting the form linked below, you indicate that you have read and agree with the conditions described above:

Application