The main section of the application is a motivational statement. We want you to tell us why you’d like to join the Prosper cohort and what you being a part of it will add to that cohort. The questions you’ll see to help you to shape your application are:
Q1: What motivates your application to Prosper? [approximately 750 words maximum]
In your answer you may wish to cover:
- Why is now the right time for you to engage with Prosper?
- How you intend to convert your motivation into a commitment to fully participate in Prosper?
- How much thought have you given so far to potential careers that you could follow beyond your current postdoc role (and how could Prosper assist you with that)? Or how you want to maximise your career development whilst in your current role?
Q2: Becoming part of a community of postdocs all focusing on their career development is integral to the Prosper cohort experience. How will you contribute to the Prosper cohort and how will you recommend Prosper to others? [approximately 750 words maximum]
In your answer you may wish to cover:
- What would the Prosper cohort be missing if you were not part of it?
- What will your personal experiences and individual circumstances add to this cohort (community of postdocs) and future cohorts?
- How will you leverage your previous experiences of supporting peers in career development?
- How do you anticipate you’ll support postdoc career development at Liverpool and be a Prosper advocate in your current and future roles?
- What excites you the most about the content, the format or just being part of the cohort?
What makes a good application?
Clearly answering the motivational questions to explain how you plan to actively engage with your career development makes a good application.
- Align your answers to this career development opportunity
- Focus on your positive motivation to apply, what is driving your focus on your career development and prompting this application? Try not to dwell on a negative or something that you are trying to avoid.
- Make your answers personal by incorporating your personality and interests to demonstrate your commitment to actively engage in this opportunity
- Be specific, consider using models such as Situation Task Action Result (STAR) to help structure your answers.
Come along to one of our drop-in sessions if you’ve got further questions.
How are you making selections?
Following the online application process, applications will be reviewed by a selection panel.
The selection panel members will anonymously mark the two motivation questions of all eligible submitted applications against a set of marking criteria. Marks awarded for both motivation questions will be equally weighted. Depending on the numbers of applications received, the lowest scoring applications may be sifted at this stage and not go forward for discussion at the selection panel.
The remaining applications will be discussed by the selection panel and a ranked list of applications produced.
The Prosper team and Chair of the panel will then use the ranked list of applicants and the panel’s commentary in conjunction with aggregate data on participants’ discipline, gender and ethnicity to inform which applicants are invited to join the cohort.
Discipline, ethnicity and gender information will only be used as a deciding factor in order to break any ties if the panel has marked any applications identically at our cut-off point for selection to the cohort.
In the unlikely event of applications still being tied at this point the applicant with the shorter current contract will be favoured (on the basis that they may be less likely to have a chance to apply in future cohorts). If still tied, the applicant who applied first (submitted their application earlier) will be favoured, on a first-come-first-served basis. In the extremely unlikely event that we have a tie after this point then a tie will be settled with a coin flip or name drawn out of hat.
When will I know if I’ve been selected?
We’ll be contacting all applicants by email to let them know the outcome of their application. Applicants will be informed of the decision via email the week beginning 20 January 2025.
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