Job Discussion Forums

[wintersweet]

When applying for a job (or to a grad school) in the US, "to whom it may concern" letters of reference/recommendation are generally frowned upon. How about when applying for English-teaching jobs in Japan? In this case, it's not as though my references really *can* tailor their letters anyway, so by my logic, it should be OK. But I know my logic has nothing to do with reality on the ground, so...what do you say?

(Along those lines, when an application asks for actual letters of reference instead of reference contacts, does that mean signed, signed and sealed, or what?)

I might be overthinking this.

[Vince]

I used "to whom it may concern" letters of reference from the US for my first two jobs, which were eikaiwa positions. After that, I used letters of reference from my Japanese jobs. Those letters were also generically addressed. I don't know if direct correspondence is preferred at the university level. PAULH can probably speak to that.

[taikibansei]

[wintersweet]

Thank you!