French and Italian graduate students are encouraged to create a career placement file when they are on the job market. In this file, the department holds a repository of letters of recommendation written on your behalf, to be mailed when you are seeking employment.

New letters may be added at any time, and old letters may be removed from current circulation. You may also request specific letters for individual mailings. Contact the graduate student services coordinator concerning the development and upkeep of your file.

Your career placement file will be kept open for five years from the date of creation, unless you request to have it held open after this time. Keep in mind that employers are interested in recent references, so you will want to have your recommenders submit new letters, as appropriate.

Send an email to the graduate student services coordinator with the following information:

• Name (please use the same name that you will use in your application materials)
• Current address
• Current email address
• Current phone number

Return a signed copy of the waiver form, waiving (or not) your right to view letters of recommendation. Ask your recommenders to send/submit their original letters** to the graduate student services coordinator.

** Only general letters should be requested, not customized letters for each position. If you want to have customized letters sent, please ask your professors to send them or submit them directly for each job.

All information should be sent to the graduate student services coordinator at the address at the bottom of this page.

We offer mailings of letters of recommendation in a professionally presented package from the Department of French and Italian. We can submit the packet of letters by snail mail, email, web upload, or Interfolio.

Once your file has been created, letters can be sent out at any time by emailing the graduate student services coordinator with the following information:

• The subject line of your email should read: Career Placement—[Last Name] [Institution]
• In the main body of your email, include the names of the institutions and to whom to address correspondence, if known.
• Specify which letters are to be sent. Only the letters you list will be included.
• Specify how the packet of letters is to be sent for each job: snail mail, email, website upload, or Interfolio. Note: If you are using Interfolio, a message must be added to each request indicating which letter to upload. If not using Interfolio, it may be best to have the institution contact your reference directly, as some independent websites require information about the reference and applicant’s relationship that we cannot provide. In this case, you are still welcome to have the reference submit a letter to us to keep for future services.
• Specify the application deadline for each job to which you are applying.

Snail mail: Domestic mailings can take as long as two weeks to make it from our office to their destination; plan accordingly. International mailings could take much longer.

Email or web upload requests: Allow a minimum of three business days prior to the job application deadline. Requests made closer to the due date cannot be guaranteed to arrive on time.

If you have questions at any time about the creation or maintenance of your career placement file, do not hesitate to contact the graduate student services coordinator.