Confirm you’re comfortable writing it. Politely declining is perfectly OK if you don’t feel you can write a strong or meaningful recommendation. It’s better to be honest than to provide a lukewarm ...

Here is a common scene: A supervisor agrees to write your letter of recommendation with one condition—you draft it. Shocker. We, too, were surprised the first time this happened to us. We assumed ...

Jeff Tompkins is a writer and teacher of English as a Second Language living in New York City. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1967 and was educated at Brown University and University College ...

As Thanksgiving approaches, our minds turn to giving thanks (and eating turkey). We might give a thoughtful gift in December, but we can start the holiday season by focusing on the “thanks” in ...

Summer stretches before us, with all its potential for meeting research and writing goals. But if you’re going on the faculty-job market for the first time — as a recent Ph.D. or an advanced doctoral ...

Between updating resumes, submitting applications, scheduling rounds of interviews and assessments, and dealing with rejection emails, it's safe to say applying for jobs is not an easy journey. But ...

Considering February is the month of love, what better time could there be to write a love letter or poem to a beloved? To be loved and nurtured is a universal need. Being loved creates feelings of ...

Johnny C. Taylor Jr. tackles your human resources questions as part of a series for USA TODAY. Taylor is president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, the world's largest HR ...

Over the course of my career, I’ve read probably tens of thousands of cover letters. (And yes, that’s as boring as it sounds.