Work With Us

 

Students and consultants taking pictures outside the writing center

 

The GW Writing Center offers part-time jobs to current undergraduate and graduate students as either front office assistants or consultants.

The center is committed to actively supporting diversity and inclusion in our hiring and environment.

 

Front Office Assistants

Front office assistants are the first point of contact for our visitors. They welcome incoming clients virtually and in person, direct the flow of traffic, respond to phone inquiries, help clients navigate our scheduling software, respond to email and generally provide crucial communication support. They also manage the Front Desk Webex Chat during business hours. The center typically employs about eight front office assistants throughout the year.

This is a Federal Work-Study position. To apply, students with Federal Work-Study status should check GW's Student Employment talent management portal for open positions throughout the year.

 

Writing Consultants

The Writing Center seeks enthusiastic, dedicated undergraduate and graduate students who are strong writers for our consultant positions. Consultants should have excellent collaborative interpersonal skills and should authentically enjoy working with other students (and sometimes faculty). 

Our consultants come from disciplines across the university; we encourage applicants from a broad range of academic fields and multilingual and multicultural backgrounds.

 

Undergraduate Consultants

Through honest, peer-to-peer discussion of drafts, consultants show writers how to reflect on their writing choices and develop their own best approaches. In addition to their regular hours working in the center, consultants’ work hours also include staff meetings and professional development workshops.

Consulting positions in the Writing Center are Federal Work-Study eligible, but Work-Study status is not required to be a consultant.

Undergraduate consultants can work up to eight hours a week at the center. Current pay for undergraduate consultants is $16.50/hour. Additional funded opportunities exist for presenting at scholarly conferences and developing special projects.

Undergraduate consultants are trained through two required courses:

  1. A three-credit WID course, Pedagogy for Peer Tutors, in which they study writing center theory and scholarship
  2. A one-credit practicum, in which they observe and then lead sessions with clients at the center
  1. Review our mission and visit the center.
    Please review the Writing Center mission statement and policies. We encourage you to ask current consultants about their experiences and, if you have never had an appointment, to schedule a session to review one of your current assignments.
  2. Submit application materials and recommendations. 
    Submit all application materials to [email protected] as separate PDFs attached to an email, with each file labeled by last name and document type (e.g., Smith_CV.PDF and Smith_WritingSample.PDF).
  • Cover letter: Introduce yourself, explain why you would like to be a consultant and why you think you would be a good fit. Should be no more than two single-spaced pages
  • CV or résumé
  • Two personal recommendations: At least one should come from a GW professor or a high school teacher; the other may come from a graduate assistant, advisor, supervisor or professor from another school. Recommenders should submit directly through the online Consultant Recommendation Form. 
  • Academic writing sample: Submit an academic paper you’ve written for one of your classes at GW. Your paper should incorporate research, put forth your own analytical argument and represent your best work. Samples should be between five and seven double-spaced pages.
  • Reflection on writing sample: Reflect about the process you used to write the writing sample you submitted. What were the easiest and most challenging parts of the process, and what research and writing strategies did you use? How did writing this paper differ from other academic writing you have completed? Reflections should be no more than two single-spaced pages.
  1. Complete an interview.
    Selected candidates will complete an interview with the Writing Center director and current consultants. 
  2. Complete UW 2111W: Pedagogy and Practice for Writing Consultants.
    Successful applicants will be invited to take UW2111W and its accompanying one-credit lab requirement. This course is taught by one of the Writing Center’s directors. Students who successfully complete the course can then be invited to work in the Center.
  • Applications and recommendations for our Fall 2021 Pedagogy class due by 11:59pm EST Wednesday, February 24th, 2021.
     

Missed the application deadline? Email the office coordinator at [email protected] to see if there is any room in the training program. Explain your interest in the position, qualifications and relevant experience in the email.

Graduate Consultants

In addition to the same duties of undergraduate consultants, graduate consultants attend full staff meetings and receive specialized training through required readings and observations in the early weeks of the semester. They attend additional meetings with the directors to discuss pedagogy and practices in the Writing Center.

Graduate students may also be eligible for funding to support professional development, scholarly conferences, designing and running workshops and mentoring.

Graduate students generally work 10–15 hours per week at $17/hour.

Note: Tuition remission is not part of any hiring offer.

Interested graduate students should submit a cover letter and CV to [email protected] by the deadline. Candidates who are invited to interview will also be asked to submit a writing sample.

The Writing Center hires graduate consultants for the next academic year on a rolling basis.

We invite interested graduate students to submit a cover letter and CV to [email protected] beginning May 1. Candidates invited to interview will also be asked to submit a writing sample.