Common Mistakes in Letters of Recommendations

One of the more important aspects of the MBA application (I guess second only to the essays) is the letter of recommendations submitted by recommenders on behalf of applicants. I’d like to take the opportunity to emphasize a few things I haven’t really discussed until now, since they are worth reinforcing.

• Who is a good recommender?
• Does job title matter?
• If I get from the CEO, will that mean more?
• How about if someone I know outside of work recommends me?
• My recommenders are busy. Can I write the letter on their behalf?
• Can my recommenders use Gmail and Hotmail instead of official email IDs?
• Should I waive my right to view my recommendation letters?
• How about an academic recommendation from a professor?

These and more questions have come my way as I met with candidates around the country. And the questions have continued over email as well. In many cases, candidates end up making assumptions and don’t think of getting them clarified.

Let’s think about the above questions for a bit. Don’t you think a good recommender is someone who knows you well? Is that enough of a criterion to anoint someone in charge of your destiny? Don’t you also think, irrespective of how well the recommender knows you, she should be willing and able to represent you well? Is it enough if someone knows you well but doesn’t take the time to write a detailed recommendation?

Put yourself in the shoes of the Admissions Committee members reading the letters of recommendation that have been submitted on your behalf. If you selected your immediate boss to write a recommendation (which is great because she is your supervisor and is best equipped to give insights into your personality, teamwork, leadership, etc.), and the boss ends up writing a brief recommendation that is devoid of examples, what does that tell the reader?

One is forced to draw a few conclusions that don’t necessarily enhance your candidacy.

1. The boss doesn’t know you well enough so isn’t able to write much about you. Which begs the question why doesn’t your supervisor know you well? What does that say about your interactions with people in your team and those above you?

2. You haven’t briefed your boss well enough that she doesn’t know how to portray you in the recommendation. That smacks of not having enough judgment. Shouldn’t you be taking the time to let your boss know what points could be discussed when writing the recommendation on your behalf?

Remember there’s a fine line between discussing with someone what points they could mention about you and actually writing them to make it easy for your boss. The former is okay, the latter is a no no.

3. The boss isn’t really impressed with you and is trying to send a message that this candidate shouldn’t be considered.
 
I know these are tough conclusions to come to, but without any other supporting information, don’t you think one of these three is a reasonable conclusion to arrive at, for the otherwise uninformed reader? Usually, if you try to jump hierarchy and get the recommendation from someone higher up, they might agree out of courtesy but the most usual route they take is none too different from one of the above approaches. So it’s in your best interests to get one from someone who knows you well and someone who is approachable enough that the person doesn’t mind if you check in on her from time to time to see how things are going.

The next thing the applicant needs to evaluate is the credibility of the recommender. Normally, we don’t mind if the recommender is someone from outside your work atmosphere because we realize you’re not a one-dimensional entity and that you have other roles to play in the society beyond work, and we appreciate the opportunity to get to know you from beyond the confines of work.

But be sure that this recommendation is not coming from a generic email id such as Gmail or Hotmail or something else that’s freely available. No matter how genuine the recommendation is, there’s a huge discount to the believability of a recommendation if it comes from an email address that anyone can create from anywhere in the world. So be mindful of that.

Is it OK to get a recommendation from a professor, when you’ve graduated a few years ago? When you’re applying to a global MBA, it is conceivable that you’re not a recent graduate (maybe 4+ years out of college), so the professor may not even remember much about you to be able to write a critical evaluation. More importantly, perhaps, this is not an MS degree or a degree that’s going to lead to your being involved in academic research. The MBA being a gateway for leadership roles in the world of business, your recommenders should be from the business world and not academia. As such, academic recommendations tend to not make a very favorable impression especially in the case of a global MBA.

The most common mistake I see Indian applicants make when giving the names of the recommendation is not waiving the right to see the recommendation if they’re admitted. And this is true of a large number of Indian applicants. You may be wondering what the big deal is. You should know there’s a federal law in the US that allows candidates to see the recommendations at a later time if they choose to, once they’re admitted to the school. And the recommender knows at the time of submitting the recommendation whether the candidate has waived the right or not.

Consider this: If the recommender knows you’re going to have access to the recommendation at a later time, you’re indirectly influencing the recommender to write favorably since they don’t want to look bad later. So if you waive it, then it’s seen as an independent recommendation that hasn’t been influenced by the candidate directly or indirectly. In other words, waiving the right to see the recommendation at a later time gives more credibility to the recommendation overall. This may not seem to be a big deal sitting in India, but it’s a considerable deal in the US.

That being the case, why would you want to not waive the right to view your recommendation letters? Admissions Committees care a lot about the integrity of the process and so, you don’t want to unknowingly raise any hackles.

The only bigger mistake candidates do is writing the recommendation themselves and having the recommender blindly submitting it. You must be wondering how would the committee possibly know if it’s done sitting all the way over here?

You see, again, we really care about the integrity of the process. So even the hint of impropriety on part of the candidate is enough to make a negative mark. I’m not saying that’s ground for outright rejection, but by raising these questions, the candidate is not doing herself any favor either. Especially when there’s such high competition for every single seat, we don’t want to run the risk of having someone admitted who hasn’t played by the rules.

So it really behooves the candidate to pay attention to these things and submit an application that’s beyond reproach. Think Caesar’s wife!