UCLA
Graduate Writing Center

Writing Consultant Open Position Announcement

Introduction / Overview

We are looking to hire writing consultants from across the disciplines to start in Fall 2023. We are conducting the interview process earlier this year due to policy changes that affect the timeline of our hiring process. We will explain the new procedures if you apply for the position.

Working at the Graduate Writing Center is a great opportunity for students working toward careers in academia, industry, and beyond. This work provides a unique opportunity to work with other graduate and professional students and to learn about writing and scholarship across the university.

Our consultants gain valuable professional and communications skills working with fellow graduate students while making $24.00/hour.

Qualifications and eligibility are described in further detail below. Please read them before applying. This work can be combined with other UCLA employment (such as TA, GSR positions).

To apply, please email a CV, cover letter, and interview availability (see below) to: Marilyn Gray at gwcc@saonet.ucla.edu by Tuesday, May 30th, 2023.

*POSITION DESCRIPTION*

Writing consultants work roughly 4-9 hours/week providing one-on-one writing assistance to graduate students. They also attend staff meetings and ongoing training opportunities. Consultants may also take advantage of professionalization opportunities to lead writing workshops and other programs.

*QUALIFICATIONS*

We are particularly interested in people who are:

  • experienced in scientific or professional writing
  • recipients of major extramural fellowships/grants (Ford, Fulbright, NSF, NIH, etc.)
  • familiar with the publication process inside or outside of academia
  • ESL/ESOL/TESOL certified and/or experienced working with multilingual writers
  • experienced in teaching writing

We prefer to hire graduate students who:

  • will be at least in their second year of graduate study
  • can work regularly scheduled hours during the academic year
  • can commit to working for the GWC for two years (we are willing to consider people who can commit to only one year if they have either ESL experience or extensive experience teaching writing)

*COMPENSATION*

Title: Student Assistant IV
$24.00/hour
(This is not an Academic Apprentice position and does not pay fees.)

*ELIGIBILITY*

Applicants must be registered UCLA graduate students. To be eligible for employment at the GWC, your percentage employment for the academic year must not already be more than 50%. If you have a 50% TA or GSR position, you will have to confirm that your department will support an exception request for you to work above 50%.

*INTERVIEW AND TRAINING SCHEDULE*

Please note the schedule below because applicants must be able to attend EACH of the following:

  1. We are scheduling applicant interviews May 30th and 31st, June 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th. Please indicate your availability between 9 AM and 7 PM on each of those days. Interviews will be conducted via Zoom or in person.
  2. If hired, you must be fully available for training, which will hopefully be conducted in person (but could alternatively be on Zoom if needed). You will be compensated at the hourly rate for training time. We are asking you to reserve 6 days for training (of which 4-5 will be used): September 14th, 15th, 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st, 9:00 AM–5:00 PM. We will not use all of these hours, but we ask that you reserve this time until we have an exact schedule.

Note: We will not be able to consider your application if you cannot make the training dates. If you have a minor scheduling conflict, please apply but note the scheduling problem in your cover letter/email. It may be possible to arrange to make up a small portion. We will be flexible with course conflicts for applicants from programs already in session and observance of religious holidays.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Tuesday, May 30th, 2023.
Please email CV, cover letter, and interview availability to:
Marilyn Gray (gwcc@saonet.ucla.edu)

GRAMMAR (SUGGESTIONS FOR REVIEW)

In prior years, a grammar test was part of the application process, and grammar review is part of the training. Below are the topics that were covered.

parallelism/parallel structure
subject-verb agreement
pronoun agreement
pronoun case (including who v. whom)
pronoun reference
misplaced/dangling modifiers
gerunds
relative pronouns and clauses
restrictive/non-restrictive clauses
dependent and independent clauses
active and passive voice
verb tenses and modals