- Andy Tay is a freelance writer based in Singapore.
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Undergraduates need them for graduate-school applications; PhD students and postdocs use them to apply for fellowships and jobs; senior scientists often have to have them to apply for awards and promotions. But writing an effective and personal recommendation letter can be time-consuming, especially for academics who must juggle grant applications, manuscripts, teaching and student supervision. And some might struggle to say the right things to support a former employee or student in their career move, while sounding original and unique.
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
196,21 € per year
only 3,85 € per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Nature 584, 158 (2020)
These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
Related Articles
Subjects
Latest on:
Massive Attack’s science-led drive to lower music’s carbon footprint
Career Feature 04 SEP 24
Tales of a migratory marine biologist
Career Feature 28 AUG 24
Nail your tech-industry interviews with these six techniques
Career Column 28 AUG 24
Guide, don’t hide: reprogramming learning in the wake of AI
Career Guide 04 SEP 24
What I learnt from running a coding bootcamp
Career Column 21 AUG 24
women could study — three years on they still can’t" />
The Taliban said women could study — three years on they still can’t
Research management
Why I’m committed to breaking the bias in large language models
Career Guide 04 SEP 24
Binning out-of-date chemicals? Somebody think about the carbon!
Correspondence 27 AUG 24
No more hunting for replication studies: crowdsourced database makes them easy to find
Nature Index 27 AUG 24
Jobs
Faculty Positions in School of Engineering, Westlake University
The School of Engineering (SOE) at Westlake University is seeking to fill multiple tenured or tenure-track faculty positions in all ranks. Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China Westlake University
Postdoctoral Associate- Genetic Epidemiology
Houston, Texas (US) Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)NOMIS Foundation ETH Postdoctoral Fellowship
The NOMIS Foundation ETH Fellowship Programme supports postdoctoral researchers at ETH Zurich within the Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life . Zurich, Canton of Zürich (CH) Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life at ETH Zurich
13 PhD Positions at Heidelberg University
GRK2727/1 – InCheck Innate Immune Checkpoints in Cancer and Tissue Damage Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg (DE) and Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg (DE) Medical Faculties Mannheim & Heidelberg and DKFZ, Germany
