I just hung up the phone with a new client who believes poor recommendations were a key reason she was not admitted last year. She carefully selected her recommenders and gave them several months advance notice. Her first recommender gave her a copy of his letter after submitting it. It was six pages long, written with care…and all wrong. He emphasized the wrong qualities, rambled like crazy and did not provide relevant examples. Unfortuantely, this is not uncommon – and it’s the reason why managing your recommenders is as important as selecting the right ones.

The goal of managing your recommenders is to make it as easy as possible for them to write a glowing letter. The following process will also help you with your own essays, so it is a valuable exercise in and of itself.

1) Decide on 4-5 key characteristics that you would like your recommender to emphasize throughout the letter. Examples: leadership, teamwork, creative thinking, determination, focus, intelligence, charisma, integrity.
2) Come up with at least one concrete example that you feel illustrates each characteristic. Example: “Initiative – Last year, when I learned that international sales were declining, I took it upon myself to research the competitive landscape and learned of two recent market entrants. I then offered to lead a team to analyze these new competitors and develop a strategy for regaining our market share. Our team of five analysts proposed a solution after one week of work. The solution was implemented and within six months, we gained back 5% of lost market share.”
3) Create a bullet pointed list of all of the projects that you have worked on, in more detail than your resume. You want your recommender to actually read this document, so try to keep it to one page, and do not overload them with information. It should be a helpful, quick reference.

Invite your recommender to lunch and walk him or her through these materials. You should also provide a copy of your resume and discuss your goals. Don’t leave it to your recommender to remember everything that you have done and don’t leave this process to chance. Your recommenders will appreciate your assistance and thoroughness and will produce a better recommendation on your behalf.

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