Our Dos and Don'ts for Selecting and Preparing Recommenders

Versión en Español: Nuestros Dos and Don´ts para seleccionar y preparar a los recomendadores

Unlike the CV and the essays, the letter of recommendation is something that the candidate believes he or she has no control over. While the most perfectly written letter of recommendation is no guarantee of acceptance, a negative or lukewarm letter of recommendation is almost guaranteed to hurt a candidate's chances of admission.  

At Azul, we have both asked for and been asked to write letters of recommendation for a number of different school applications. Because we know both sides of the process, we are able to help our clients select and prepare their recommenders, resulting in outstanding letters of recommendation.

To help facilitate the process of selecting and preparing your recommenders, we would like to share with you our list of Dos and Don'ts for letters of recommendation.

Do: Ask your current or former manager to be one of your recommenders.

Nobody can advocate for you better than your current or former manager.  Admissions committee members are most interested in knowing what your manager has to say about you as he or she should be able to provide the most honest and complete assessment of your candidacy.  

Do: Choose recommenders who know you well enough to talk about you with substance and detail.

Your recommenders will be asked to provide illustrative examples that demonstrate each kind thing they have to say about you.  They will be asked to talk about and rate you (compared to your peers) on various aspects of your emotional intelligence, professional performance, and trajectory.

Do: Select a recommender who is not afraid to talk about a weakness and how you have worked to overcome it.

Each school requests that a recommender mention a time when he or she had to provide you with negative feedback and discuss how you responded.  The idea here is to force the recommender to talk candidly about one of your current or past weaknesses.  Nobody is perfect, and the response to this question is one of the ways the admissions committee tests the authenticity of the letter.

Do: Provide your recommenders with as much information about your career aspirations and application as possible.

We recommend compiling a packet of information about your application to help guide your recommenders.  The packet should contain certain stories or aspects of your profile you would like the recommender to discuss, your narrative, your short and long-term aspirations, and an overview of what types of values the program or university looks for in candidates.

Do: Make sure that the recommender can write the letter in the required language or be willing to have the letter translated.

It´s OK to submit a letter of recommendation with misspellings or grammatical errors.  The admissions committee understands that not all recommenders in Latin America are fluent in English.  However, the key is to make sure that, despite these expected errors, the letter of recommendation is clear and understandable.

Do: Choose a recommender who is a graduate of the program if this person meets the above criteria.  

A graduate of the program will understand how to carefully present your candidacy in a way that is consistent with the culture and values of the program.  He or she will know how to choose the appropriate stories to tell and how to position the candidate as well as possible in the eyes of the admissions committee.

Don’t: Pick a recommender that has a fancy title (ex. CEO, CFO) but who knows nothing about you.

This represents a wasted opportunity to sell your candidacy to the admissions committee. Most often, these letters of recommendation do more harm than good because they lack the substance and evidence that the admissions committee desires.

Don´t: Write your own letters of recommendation.  

These are extremely easy to spot.  If the admissions committee member has any doubt as to whether the letter of recommendation is authentic, he or she will immediately reject your application.

Don’t: Choose two recommenders who will essentially tell the same stories about you.

Think of your letters of recommendation from the holistic point of view.  Each item that makes up part of your application should serve a purpose.  Having two recommenders means that there are two different people who can share a different point of view about your candidacy.  It's an opportunity to reveal something new about you and to present yourself as a well-rounded candidate.

Don’t: Ask to see your letters of recommendation.  

If you’ve followed our other advice from this post, there should be nothing to worry about.  Be confident in knowing that your recommenders will say wonderful things about you.  Although it may be difficult to believe, by offering your recommenders this level of confidentiality, they will say even more wonderful things about you and tell powerful stories that they otherwise may have been reluctant to share.  

Don’t: Ask for a letter of recommendation without enough notice.

We suggest providing three months of notice.   Even though 90% of the recommenders procrastinate and wait until the last week to write and submit a letter of recommendation, it's important to make a recommender feel like they are part of the process from the beginning.  In addition, by providing a recommender with three months of notice, you may have the opportunity to work with your recommender to proactively seek out projects and assignments that may complement your existing profile before submitting the application.

Don’t: Be afraid to stay proactive in the process of reminding your recommenders of your application deadlines and progress.

People become busy with other things leading up to the application deadline.  It's perfectly ok and encouraged to follow up in a polite way over the three months.  In fact, it is greatly appreciated!

Don’t: Select someone who will say you are ¨average¨ for your peer group.

This is an automatic red flag from the point of view of the admissions committee.  Each recommender will be asked to grade you based on how you compare to your comparable peer group (ex. other investment banking analysts in Chile).  Given the level of competition for each seat at top postgraduate programs, a rating of ¨average¨ will absolutely affect your chances of admission.  You will more than likely be competing with other applicants from your comparable peer group that have received glowing reviews.

Don’t: Choose a subordinate or peer unless you have no other options.

Recommendations written by peers or subordinates lack credibility and objectivity. Therefore, these recommendations will most likely be discarded or heavily discounted by the admissions committee.

If you would like for us to assist you in this process of selecting and coaching your recommenders, we invite you to request a free consultation with us by clicking the Get Started button or the Request A Free Analysis button. Also, you can write to us at contact@azuladvisors.com.  We look forward to hearing from you!