Job seeking advice

[tishaLA]

So here's the deal. In order to avoid absolute poverty, I am trying to find a job while I finish my goddamned dissertation. Knowing the academic job market, though, there's a good chance I'll need it even after the dissertation is finished. I've been trying to get jobs at nonprofits because I believe in them and they meet my minimal financial needs (rent, cell phone, electricity).

There's a job I'm wanting to apply for as a part time office assistant at an organization that calls itself progressive, etc. In addition to the resume, in the cover letter they want me to answer three questions. The first one is easy. The second (and, by extension, the third), less so. They want to know my favorite book. My natural inclination, because I think this would be a great job for me--who doesn't want to work for a progressive nonprofit with an internationalist perspective?--is to be truthful and say, quoting what I've written in the cover letter, "My favorite book is Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity by feminist philosopher Judith Butler. A Women’s Studies professor recommended it to me as a first year student because she thought the book asked many of the same questions I was attempting to articulate in class; I spent the next five years trying to read all the people Butler cited and figuring out the most miniscule parts of her argument. It changed my understanding of what one can say under the feminist rubric and helped me think about gender and sexuality in more complex ways than I’d ever imagined. The last thing that made me laugh? Trying to articulate why an obscure feminist philosophical tome about psychoanalytic, poststructuralist, and deconstructionist theories is my favorite book." The last part of that answer is in response to the third question, "what is the last thing that made you laugh?"

My sense is that they are asking these questions so they don't get rote cover letters and instead want to find out a bit about the people applying for the job, so it's better to be candid and give a sense of why I might be a good candidate, even though I'm not a traditional candidate for the job. Or I could say my favorite book is Beloved because it taught me a lot about empathy or some dumb Oprah shit. I don't know.

[necso]

1. In my experience,

it's pretty common (and can be helpful) to tailor a cover-letter (resume, interview-interaction) to the particulars of a job.

How far to go with this tailoring is a personal judgement (considering circumstances). And I can't say what would be best; but generally it's a good idea when job-hunting to try to take a detached view of what impression you might be giving by what you write.

Myself, I wouldn't name my favorite book* (based on most times read) in a cover-letter; but then, it's a less serious work.

*: It's like a "comfort-food".

[snagglepuss]

2. I think you have just written a great answer to that question. What you have

said about why you like Butler is engaging and shows you are passionate about ideas. I would only suggest you not mention that it's an "obscure philosophical tome about psychoanalytic, poststructuralist, and deconstructionist theories" as references to poststructuralism and deconstructionism outside academia can often be off-putting.