Michigan Ross Letter of Recommendation Questions
- How long and in what capacity have you known the candidate? (No word limit)
- If this is a work-related reference, in what position is/was the candidate employed and for how long? (No word limit)
- What do you consider to be the candidate’s principal strengths/talents? (No word limit)
- What do you consider to be the candidate’s weaknesses or areas that need improvement? (No word limit)
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Michigan Ross Letter of Recommendation Example – 1
1. Please provide a brief description of your interaction with the applicant and, if applicable, the applicant’s role in your organization. ( 50 Words)
As a Senior Consultant at Deloitte Consulting India, I have supervised the work of Edward (Name changed) Nain Singh for a major Technology client. He was a part of the 5 member team, which negotiated with the client regarding the requirements, scope, and timeline of the deliverables.
2. How does the candidate’s performance compare to that of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? Please provide specific examples.
Edward (Name changed) was very quick in getting up to the speed in the project. At a junior level, he was handling a highly complex module/part of the application. He made sure to drive the implementation of the whole module himself. He analyzed the long term implications of the existing design, brought it to the notice of the leads, and then worked closely with developers, analysts – mostly his seniors and the client team to get the design changed so that it does not face any issues when the application is in production. Further, he took the responsibility to coordinate with the client team, which spanned across 5 countries to make sure that they can complete their validations on time with minimal issues. Also, he coordinated internally with the whole team to analyze the issue, brainstorm regarding the solutions and then finalizing a resolution. It was a very challenging task and most people with 4 -5 years handled this, but Edward (Name changed) was mature enough to take this challenge. The response rate and the resolution rate was considerably less than the previous releases. Also, he took care of the weekly status meetings to resolve the pending issues, for which the time dropped to 10 minutes, as compared to 1 hour previously because of very few issues pending.
Also, Edward (Name changed) worked with me on the SINS forum – he proposed and took complete responsibility for organizing a theme-based competition – involving Table Tennis Competition, Bowling Tournament, and some quizzes as well. The event was a huge success in Delhi and his management of the team was highly commendable.
Overall, I would rate Edward (Name changed) among the top 2% of his peers which comprise 500 employees and are mostly comprise of developers, analysts, testers, and technology architects.
*SINS, Systems Integration Networking and Socializing forum work to connect people with each other and the leaders of Deloitte. Also, it organizes periodic events to manage work-life balance for the System Integration professionals.
3. Describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant’s response.
In his initial days in the project, Edward (Name changed) did not sell his work as much he should have been. He used to have a lot of valuable insights on how a particular approach would fare in real-life scenarios, but some pressure from peers and seniors used to make him change the approach or the design of the deliverable. I called him to make him aware of the situation that he should give some fight for his decisions and should promote himself and his work more. He took the feedback in a very positive way. He started selling himself and his work more, making people understand the reason behind his thinking and how his work will impact the project. He made sure to connect with the team and leads more often and making them aware of what he is doing, what the whole situation and the client’s expectations were during the calls. Also, he made sure to back up his intuitions with valid data points before presenting or demonstrating them to the team.
4. Are you in a position to know whether the applicant is sponsored for the MBA by his or her current employer? If so, please comment.
No
5. (optional) Is there anything else we should know?
Edward (Name changed) is very good at multi-tasking – Along with his projects, he participates in a lot of Quizzes, poster making competition, etc. When our project was going and others were exhausted, he was also participating actively in the Firm events to organize team-based competitions, fun events, and leadership sessions to ensure a multi-dimensional experience in the firm
He has very good communication skills and is very good in mentoring people. While we were ramping up, he ensured that new hires are given in-depth KT – Knowledge Transfer about the application and are brought to speed in a short span of time. He is a very dependable person and makes his priority to help others resolve their issues.
Also, Edward (Name changed) is very well known in the team to solve problems – There have been times while designing the solution – even more experienced developers and Analysts could not finalize on the design. Edward (Name changed) has pitched in whenever he feels the timeline of the project was getting impacted and his out of the box thinking helped them to come to a final decision
Michigan Ross Letter of Recommendation Example – 2
1. Please provide a brief description of your interaction with the applicant and, if applicable, the applicant’s role in your organization. (50 words)
I have known Santhosh for about five years now since he joined Coal India Limited in 2012 as a Management Trainee. He has trained under me in both Technical and Managerial capacities. He has worked under my direct supervision as an assistant manager for 3 years.
2. How does the performance of the applicant compare to that of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? Please provide specific examples. (E.g. what are the applicant’s principal strengths? (500 words)
As long as I can remember, five years back Stephan (Name changed) joined the company as a trainee along with four other trainees. His drive and dedication towards work impressed me and that’s why I choose him on my team. Since then he has proved himself and never let me or his team down. As a manager, he surpassed our expectations and I consider him the best manager I have ever trained.
I think Stephan (Name changed)’s most outstanding strength is his passion and adherence in driving things that he is given responsibility for. He will go all out to make it happen and take complete ownership of the activity. One specific instance, I can remember was during the expansion of the 33 KV electric substation to adopt the new longwall underground mining technology from China. The new mining machines and technology from China were due to get commissioned in 3 months’ time, but we need the expansion of electric substation to be complete before that. Since only then all the new machines can be operated at maximum efficiency otherwise power shortage would lead to huge productivity losses per day.
It was a tough task and seemed impossible to be completed in 2 months due to inefficiencies which are synonymous with any public-sector undertaking. But Stephan (Name changed) and his team stepped up and completed the project before the commissioning of new machines. He singlehandedly took charge of the project, worked long hours, and guided his team with efficient collaboration. He performed beyond my expectations and became one of my most trusted resources in the team.
He also led a quality circle team which is a problem-solving initiative in Electrical substation comprising of electricians and technicians. With this team, he was able to successfully implement a project which reduced the electricity bills of the mine by improving the power factor and efficiency. This project was appreciated by the senior Management and won him the special achievement prize for the year 2015 for his managerial potential. In recognition of this project, he was promoted to Deputy Manager.
3. Describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant’s response. (500 words)
At Coal India Limited, we work in an environment where we need to lead teams of permanent workers (skilled and unskilled) and Daily Wage Contractual Labourers. As managers, we need to be as conversant as possible with the labor to get the work done. When Santhosh joined our project, he was completely new to the state with no knowledge of the local language(Bengali) or culture. Santhosh was assigned to head three different teams who are looking after the maintenance and operations of Electrical Sub-station, Mine Winder, and Mine Ventilators. As a fresh graduate engineer, initially, he struggled in leading his team and cope with the pressure of a management job and keep track of the activities. He had a tough time managing daily wage labourer and finally came to me for my help.
I remember advising on how important it is to learn the language and the culture of the subordinates in order to have good control and communication with his team or Labourers. He took the feedback positively and started learning the language. Within 3 months he was able to converse with his subordinates and integrate into their culture. He not only improved his job but also created such a rapport with his teams that he started to engage his team in activities such as Quality innovation techniques. This shows his sensitivity and willingness to adapt to as per the needs of his team or his subordinates. Learning a new language within 3 months really impressed me and proved to me how seriously Santhosh cares about his team and work.
At Coal India Limited, We work in an environment where we need to lead teams of permanent workers (skilled and unskilled) and Daily Wage Contractual Labourers. As Managers, we need to be as conversant as possible with the labour to get the work done. When Santhosh joined our project, he was completely new to the state with no knowledge of the local language(Bengali) or culture. Santhosh was assigned to head three different teams who are looking after the maintenance and operations of Electrical Sub-station, Mine Winder, and Mine Ventilators. Initially, he struggled to cope with the pressure of the job and keep track of the activities. He simply could not manage these many working personnel and finally came to me for my help.
I remember advising him to keep a cool head and prioritize the activities and most importantly learn the language and the culture of the subordinates in order to have good control and communication with his team or Labourers. He took the feedback positively and started learning the language. Within 3 months he was able to converse with his subordinates and integrate into their culture. He not only improved on his job but also created such a rapport with his teams that he started to engage his team in activities such as Quality innovation techniques. This shows his sensitivity and willingness to adapt to as per the needs of his team or his subordinates. Learning a new language within 3 months really impressed me and proved to me how seriously Santhosh cares about his team and work.
4. (Optional) Is there anything else we should know?
Overall, I believe, Stephan (Name changed) is a talented and hardworking person, highly capable of achieving his career goals. I feel his decision to pursue MS at this point makes perfect sense as it will help him take his expertise to the next level. He has got all the qualities that I believe will hold him in good stead when he goes through his MS program and his subsequent career.
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