What
is a Dossier?
A dossier is a confidential
collection of documents giving detailed information about a person seeking
employment or admission to post-baccalaureate studies. This collection
of documents can be comprised of letters of recommendation, statistical
reports, transcripts, writings, resumes, curriculum vitae, or any other
data that provide background and context on an individual.
Who
has a Dossier and Why?
Dossiers are initiated by
individuals seeking admission to graduate school or entering the workforce.
Dossiers can continue to grow throughout an individual’s career.
A dossier service is a holding
mechanism that provides the credential security sought by administrators
in higher education, social services, or the corporate community when evaluating
an individual’s eligibility for admission or employment. A dossier
can be used to provide hard evidence of educational or professional claims.
It suggests to prospective employers or admissions personnel that the holder
has anticipated future needs.
A dossier is both cost- and
time-efficient in that it allows clients to provide numerous submissions
to graduate schools and prospective employers over an indefinite period,
without repeated expenditures for duplicate letters and supplemental materials.
Our
Mission Is To:
- Provide confidential
care in the storage, transfer, and distribution of client's recommendation
letters, transcripts, resumes/curriculum vita, and other miscellaneous
items needed in applications for fellowships or employment.
- Respond to client's
request within three to five business days from date of receipt.
- Process a request
within one week from date of request if client's file must be reactivated
after having been dormant in the University Archives for an extended period.
Client
Responsibilities Are To:
- Establish a file by completing,
printing, and submitting the necessary Registration/Consent Form, registration
fee, and any other initial documents designated to be included in dossier
folder.
- Complete, print, and sign
the top section of a Recommendation/Waiver Form and compile any additional
documents that referees [individuals providing references] may need.
- Request letters of recommendation
from professors, supervisors, and others who can attest to your character,
academic abilities, work ethic, etc.
- Determine the correct number
of copies needed from each referee to successfully provide the targeted
recipient with the required documents: letters used for employment
can be copied; letters for graduate school must be originals, necessitating
that referees be asked to provide a number of signed letters to equal the
number of targeted graduate schools.
- Advise referees to 1) mail
or 2) hand deliver the recommendation letters and Recommendation/Waiver
form to the Service.
- Verify that letters of
recommendation have been received by the Service.
- Complete, print, and submit
to program office, the Dossier Request Form, required mailing fees, and
typed mailing labels if preferred.
- Keep personal information
current via written notification of change [letter or email] directed
to ASCP Dossier Service.
Registering
and Establishing A File
Graduating and graduate students
who wish to become clients of the A&S
Careers Program Dossier Service must follow the listed procedures, beginning
with completion, printing, and submission/distribution of the three necessary
forms, obtained online.
| Registration/Consent
Form [Form can be completed
online and printed, but information cannot be saved.]
Client must complete, print,
and submit to our office, either in person or through the US Postal Service,
the official
Registration
Form with the appropriate registration fee and any other initial
documents such as resume/curriculum vita requested to be included in dossier
folder.
All sections of this Registration/Consent
form must be completed, including the consent box which authorizes service
to begin.
The full name of each referee
[individual providing reference] and the date that the client requested
the recommendation also must be provided. |
| Recommendation/Waiver
Form [Form can be
completed online and printed,but information cannot be saved.]
Client must complete, print,
and sign all pertinent sections of an individual Recommendation/Waiver
Form and, together with resume/cv and any other documents that
would be beneficial to a potential referee [individual providing reference]
in developing a thorough understanding of a client's present skills, personally
approach targeted referee to ask for a recommendation, of which no more
than eight should be held at any one time in the dossier.
[Remember:
It is rude to drop a form in a professor's mailbox assuming that s/he will
provide you with a recommendation. A letter of recommendation is
a vote of confidence in you and your abilities that professors, supervisors,
and others are under no obligation to provide. When an individual
does agree to act as a referee, this courtesy should be countered with
the appropriate respect in the form of your providing any necessary personal
information, appropriate instructions, stamped envelopes, and always a
thank you note/letter after you have been notified of inclusion in your
dossier by our service.]
Client should directly ask prospective
referee if s/he can provide a "good" or a "strong" recommendation.
The intended use of the recommendation should be explained: "I am applying
to graduate/law school," or "I am currently seeking full-time employment,"
or "I would like to be able to use this letter as a possible recommendation
for both employment and graduate studies." By understanding the specific
audience, the referee can focus the letter of recommendation to best help
a client succeed in reaching an intended goal.
After a targeted individual
agrees to act as a referee, s/he should be supplied with a copy of the
Recommendation/Waiver Form, the additional documents deemed necessary,
and the following information:
- Instruct Referees
to fully complete lower section of form, providing Service with contact
information.
- Instruct Referees to date
letters, omit inside addresses, and use salutations such as "To Whom
It May Concern:" or a page heading merely stating, Reference for xxxxxx.
- AND, Client should also
instruct referres about the various number of typed copies that will be
directly returned with the form to the Dossier Administrators::
- Recommendations
for employment searches can be copied, so only one copy is needed
- Recommendations
for graduate school applications must be originals, so the same number
of signed letters as intended applications will be needed.
Letters and forms are
to be returned to:
A&S
Careers Program Dossier Service
Buchtel College of
Arts and Sciences
The University of
Akron
Olin Hall 325
Akron, OH 44325-1916
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When a client elects to keep
a recommendation confidential, s/he waives the right of access to the recommendation,
according to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 and
its amendments, by checking the appropriate box on the form. Waiving
of rights prohibits the Service from allowing client to examine recommendation
letters.
When a non-confidential file
is mailed, it is clearly marked, “Non-Confidential.” It should be
noted that non-confidential correspondence is considered less substantive
than that which is covered by a waiver.
If s/he wishes, a client
will be notified by email each time a new or replacement letter arrives
for a file. [Client should note that an original letter will be destroyed
upon receipt of a replacement.] A client may, alternatively, provide the
service with a self-addressed, stamped postcard containing the individual
referee’s name, address, phone number/email address and the words Reference
Inclusion Notification. This postcard will be returned to the
client when the Service receives the referee's letter. A client
should note a choice by checking the correct box on the form and/or providing
the necessary postcard/s.
| Request
Form [Form can
be completed online and printed, but information cannot be saved.]
In addition to the appropriate
request fee, a client must complete, print, and submit to our office an
official Request Form.
Requests should be sent to the appropriate address in an envelope marked
“Attention: Dossier Service” for prompt processing. Allow three to
five days from date of receipt for processing. [If preferred, client
may supply typed address label/s or envelope/s for each mailing.]
A client’s dossier will be
sent "as is" to the specified academic institution/s, organization/s, or
corporation/s. This means that all documents being held by
the service at the time of the request will be included in the mailing:
copies for employment and originals for graduate school, unless otherwise
instructed by the client.
If a client wishes to have
included, to be considered a complete dossier, each and every recommendation
that is listed on the Registration/Consent Form but possibly not received
by the service at the time of the request, notification in the Special
Instructions
section of the form must be made to the program that a
mailing is to wait until all designated letters have been received.
If original documents, rather than copies, are to be included in an employment
mailing or copies rather than originals in a graduate school application,
this information should be so stated in that
Special Instructions
section. All inclusions or omissions of specific supplementary materials
also should be noted in this section.
It is the client’s responsibility
to determine the holdings of the dossier. The Service will store
recommendation letters, resume and/or curriculum vitae, testimonies, certificates,
writing samples, and other informative documents, excluding transcripts.
However, no more than twelve documents, including reference letters, should
be requested for forwarding at any one time. If more than twelve
documents are requested, an additional fee may be included.
Transcripts are NOT included
in a mailing unless provided by the client. Official transcripts
must be requested from the Registrar’s Office by the client, who may personally
deliver copies to the Service or who may ask to have them sent directly
by the Registrar's Office to the Service to guarantee the integrity of
the document. Clients should allow enough time for processing by
the Registrar or be willing to pay the Registrar’s fee for “speedy” processing.
An individual transcript should be provided for each intended mailing.
A client may ask to have
an entire dossier included and forwarded, or s/he may ask for specific
letters to be sent to academic institutions or employers. [Remember:
Notification to use originals for employment or copies for graduate school
must be stated; otherwise, duplications will be forwarded to prospective
employers and originals will be forwarded to graduate schools.]
A client can be notified
by email when a dossier file has been sent, or clients may provide the
Service with a self-addressed, stamped postcard containing the name of
the designated recipient, with the words File Mailed included.
This postcard will be returned to the client when the Service forwards
the dossier file to the intended recipient. Clients should note their
choice by checking the correct box on the form and/or providing the necessary
postcard/s. |
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REQUEST
CHECKLIST
Requests Must:
- Be completed, dated, printed,
and signed.
- Specify which recipient
is to receive which holding/s [complete dossier or specific documents].
- Specify which referee letters
are to be forwarded and if they are to be the originals/copies currently
held.
- Include client’s current
address, email address, telephone number, and UA identification number.
- Include, if pertinent,
addressed, postage-paid envelope/s for “special handling” [Fed-Ex, priority
mail, etc.].
- Have address information
accurately completed, printed, or be accompanied by self-sticking, TYPED
mailing labels that include a street address or P.O. Box [to avoid
return to post office] and the name of the designated recipients.
- Inform service if an email
or postcard acknowledgment is required by client.
- Be accompanied by the required
fee.
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Fee
Information
The initial registration
fee of $35.00 covers the first four mailing requests.
After the initial four mailings,
a fee of $4.00 per address will be required at the time of the request.
Subsequent mailings with additional letters to the same address will require
the $4.00 fee for each.
Payments are to be made by
money order or check payable to The University of Akron.
Changes
to a Dossier File
A dossier is organic.
Holdings may be added or deleted at any time through a written request
from the client.
New letters from referees
will automatically displace existing letters.
A substantial replacement
of recommendation letters will necessitate a new registration form, available
online from the Service.
If a referee wishes to remove
a letter, the Service will notify the client.
Withdrawing
from the Dossier Service
Withdrawal from the Service
can be accomplished through a written request to the Dossier Administrators.
All confidential information
in the file will be destroyed, and all non-confidential documents will
be returned to the client.
CONTACT
INFORMATION
Dossier Administrators
The A&S
Careers Program
Buchtel College of Arts
and Sciences
The University of Akron
Olin Hall 325
Akron, OH 443215-1916
Ph: 330/ 972-5714
Fax: 330/ 972-2177
careersprogram@uakron.edu
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