Tips for Letters of Recommendation

Applying to b-school for 2011 is still on and I got a few queries on LORs. So here it is. A lot of this was mentioned in an earlier article, but thought its worth mentioning it again.

Letters of Recommendation

This is one of the significant constituents of a b-school application. References or Letters of Recommendation (LORs) are a must to submit. Unless otherwise specified you must submit a reference from your immediate manager from your current company (or the previous company, if you have quit recently). Most schools need 2 recommendations, while others ask for 3.

You can provide references from your professors of the last school/college you attended. Also it is advisable to get at least one recommendation from your current supervisor/manager.  If you cannot manage a reference from your current company, you must explain the reason for the same in your application, and provide alternative recommendations, like from some client/vendor you might have worked with. If you also work in an NGO or sorts, it’s sometimes good to include a recommendation from such people as well. Remember, that b-schools want to know about you as a person, more than what your resume or application or degrees say. Also remember that what’s written in the letter of recommendation matters more than who writes the recommendation.

Remember, if you are making 5 applications, you will need at least 10 LORs. Make sure that you give enough time to those writing your recommendations and discuss beforehand the specific areas you want them to focus the LOR on. Make sure that your application, your essays and your LORs make a coherent theme. Your recommendations should, preferably, enforce the claims you make in your essays. Word of caution – do not write your own letters of recommendation.

Planning for Essays and Recommendations:

Needless to say, this phase begins once you have figured out the list of schools you want to apply to. Do not do the mistake of selecting the schools based on the number or level of difficulty of the essays to write. Even before you start selecting schools, or get started with GMAT you should have your resume (preferable one page) and SOP (statement of purpose) ready. Write your SOP in a detailed and exhaustive manner, listing down all you have done and achieved in your life so far, all the significant events in your life and all that you want to achieve in future. This should answer all the basic questions which most b-schools ask in their essays like ‘Why MBA?’, ‘Why Now?’

Here are a few other points to be taken care of while submitting your LORs.

1. Do not write your own letter of recommendation, and ask your referee to just submit it. Believe me, the readers who go through the application are experts and read a hell lot of such letters daily and they will know by the style of writing that you have written it yourself. Moreover, there are chances that you will miss some of your own strengths and weaknesses, if you access yourself. Remember, it’s a good point in your career to find out more about yourself and hence advisable to start this process as early as possible so that you can take corrective actions if needed.
2. If you want, you can write the basic qualities of yourself, or a basic skeleton/format which you want your referee to follow. But not the whole thing. Make sure you give your referee enough time and liberty to write a full detail of what he thinks of you and how he thinks you are ready for an MBA and/or a senior leadership role.
3. Make sure each LOR focuses on your different qualities, and not on the routine things like hard working, good leadership etc.
4. Make sure you ask your referee to add a few personal qualities, other than technical/business skills. Also ask for examples. Just writing about qualities is not enough unless corroborated by evidence.
5. Make sure you submit in time. Also make sure you remind your referees, and give them enough time to submit. (Typically 4 weeks). Most LORs are to be submitted online, or to be sent via their official email ids. Make sure you find the process of providing recommendations beforehand, and have a meeting early to discuss everything.
6. If you are applying to a large number of schools, make sure your referee is OK to that, as it might be overwhelming, and the same LOR might not be usable everywhere.(Different Schools follow their own way, some accept essay type LORs, some have questionnaires etc.).

 

Asking for recommendations again and again – How much is too much

Applying to B-Schools is a pain. Especially when you get rejected (as in my case) in earlier rounds, and then you try to apply to as many as you can in later rounds.

One of the things that is required for all B-School apps is letter of recommendation. I asked my manager to write it for me and she obliged. But then I have been asking over and over again, and now the count has gone upto 5.

I don’t know about others, but it feels awkward to ask for recommendation more than 2-3 times from the same recommender. I think those who are applying to B-Schools know what I am talking about.

So, how many is too much ?

For me I think the limit is 6. Purely because you simply can not churn out more than 6 apps in the same year.  Also if you do not get selected in the first 6 schools you choose, you need to re-think your strategy. Either the choice of schools have been bad, or your profile needs a major rejig.

And then the referee dumped me

I am talking about one of my referees. He was supposed to provide me with a letter of recommendation for my applications this season, a season which has almost come to an end without a good start with 2 dings out of 2 apps so far.

He was the manager at my previous organization and it seems he had some issues with HR in giving out recos. God knows what the issue might be, but the reality is I am short of one recommendation, right at the critical phase.

Finally, talked to one QA manager at my current company and got him to write something for me. Thinking of it, I feel I should have opted for this guy from the very outset.

Here are a few lessons I learnt about the recommendation thing:

1. If you are not starting early, and have not decided about the schools in advance (both deadly signs though), get a referee who is in regular contact and can provide you references in very less time. I wasted so much time in getting touch with the person who was in a different city than mine in getting 2 references, which he finally declined to give.

2. Its important that you discuss matters with the referee first, better to do it face-to-face than over phone or emails. This makes things clear and makes a good recommedation.

3. And finally, do not keep recommendations for the last. I would suggest to ask them to be sent out before you submit the application, and that too before the end date. Believe me you will feel a lot better after you have submitted the application in time, and do not have other worries. Also it makes sure you do not miss the deadline for that round. It really helps, especially if you have chalked out the application strategy for each round.

About Recos

I hear often that for an application to be strong as a whole , strong LORs (or Recos as we call them) are essential.

I can not ignore the importance of recos. And hence talked to my manager about this a month back. She took it as a shock when she heard about it but when I told her how firm was my decision to pursue an MBA was, she was ok with it.

After that we had one more meeting in between and then I listed down some achievements/strengths etc that I thought she should mention and then sent across to her. She gave some very good examples that she thought she must mention as well. I am very happy with how it went. Now i think I have a fairly strong application at least in terms of the reco.

As far as the other reco is concerned, I took it from a peer. As I am applying to Judge Cambridge in R1, and they require a peer reco. For other apps this season, I will have to find another referee.

Now fine tuning my essays.

Asked my supervisor for LORs

Had a talk with my manager for letter of recommendation. She was shocked to know that I would be leaving my job. She was probably thinking that after having being worked for 5 years now in this present company, I would be continuing till retirement.

I think I somewhere expected this reaction. I know she has some limitations in terms of understading the future aspiration of people she manages. Well, thats a different story altogether. Point is, she has agreed to give me the LOR and I am obliged. I hope she writes a strong recommendation for me.

Now the search is on for the second person. My choices are 1) my previous manager, 2)my manager in previous company 3) my team lead in previous company 4) some other manager in current company.

I think I will be taking one from each for the various schools I will be applying to. Each and every reference counts.