Notre Dame Letter of Recommendation Questions
- Please provide a brief description of your interaction with the applicant and, if applicable, the applicant’s role in your organization. (50 words)
- How does the performance of the applicant compare to that of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? (E.g. What are the applicant’s principal strengths?) (Up to 500 words)
- Describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant’s response. (Up to 500 words)
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Notre Dame 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)
I first met Ashank in 2013, when I was department head at St. Joseph’s College of commerce. Ashank approached our university to establish a partnership for preparing and mentoring our students. Since then, I have known Ashank for 7 years as a client and then as a mentor.
2. How does the performance of the applicant compare to that of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? (E.g. what are the applicant’s principal strengths?) (500 words)
From my perspective and compared to other well-qualified individuals I have worked with, Ashank definitely stands out in terms of his ability to manage teams and lead them.
In 2015, as a department head and mentor, I requested Ashank to initiate a course called “A road to UPSC”, to help me prepare our students for the nationwide competitive examination for public sector jobs. Planning an entire course usually takes months and whole academic years. But Ashank and his team structured and planned to get the program implemented within months. Ashank not only shouldered the responsibility to create but also executed the implementation exceedingly well. Leading a young team for a startup to such a good implementation of the course really impressed me and brought to fore his strong people management skill.
After our first successful partnership, in 2017, I requested Ashank to create a career focused mentoring course for students. The program was initially designed for Bachelor of Commerce students only, but when we evaluated student feedback, it was really positive. Thereafter, we decided to extend the course to Post Graduate programs too covering more than 2000 students.
Under my mentorship, he has worked on multiple projects. During covid – 19, I asked him to convert all the current projects into virtual mode. It was a demanding task to cater 600 students via online medium without compromising the quality. However, Ashank and his team got it implemented within 2 months. There were multiple issues and Ashank put in commendable effort working overtime to deliver the results.
Most recently, during the second wave of covid-19 pandemic, We were struggling to conduct yearly assessment programs at our college. I approached Ashank to help us develop a remote method of carrying out the assessment. He delivered an online-only assessment product for commerce students within a week. The product not only helped us in understanding and assessing parameters of all students but also tailored online courses for them in helping them navigate through health and academic challenges. His turnaround time was exceptional – 1 week – since he understood the student’s challenges, and the essence of time. The product had great success in history as more than 60% students subscribed to it.
The way he handled his team in the time of crisis, makes me believe that he possesses excellent leadership skills to capably lead a big team and deliver projects for clients.
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)
I think Ashank is really good at delivering results in challenging circumstances. I’ve always been highly impressed by the way he tackles challenges due to which he was our preferred academic partner for five continuous years.
However, as with everybody in the work, Ashank does have his drawbacks, which after years of good working relationship I understand and have discussed with him to assist him with improvements. As a leader and Business owner, Ashank is very hands-on and lacks the capability to think big and think strategically.
The key feedback which I gave Ashank was regarding his lack of understanding on how to scale his business. A key suggestion that I have stressed upon is to create products instead of focussing on 1-1 services. Services help you get the initial revenue but after that he should start thinking strategically to scale. I’m glad that he took my advice in his newest venture and is looking to create scalable learning products whose backbone is technology.
We had numerous conversations during the course of the last couple of years and my advice to him has been to channel his energy in the right direction and enhance his self-learning. I’ve also told him a few times that he was being ineffective with his time. He should use the downtime in business cycles most effectively by building a robust platform to cater a maximum number of students while reducing direct human involvement. He took the feedback positively. After spending more than a year and a half, Ashank came up with a strong online platform, which can be accessed from anywhere accounting to the feasibility of students. He understood the importance of the platform and launched two more products under the same platform. I observed that his reach drastically increased from a few thousand students to two hundred thousand students in a short span, resulting in an increase in revenue.
I have also observed a significant change in his work methodology. Over time he has shown great improvement in his understanding of workflow processes in different business modules. Ashank is highly capable of achieving his career goals. I feel his decision to pursue an MBA at this point makes perfect sense as it will help him take his expertise to the next level.
Notre Dame Letter of Recommendation Example – 2
1.How does the performance of the applicant compare to that of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? (E.g. what are the applicant’s principal strengths?) (500 words)
Sambit has worked as a technical lead under my supervision. One of his principal strengths is the ability to deliver complex solutions while collaborating with multiple stakeholders.
Sambit was working as the Tech Lead for the Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia. The client was using an archaic and poorly designed Patient management system in more than 100 hospitals. When the customer approached us to overhaul the system, Sambit was selected to lead the new project as he was leading the support activities. He chose the Agile methodology to deliver the project to minimize delivery time. He built a small offshore team that would assist him in developing the front-end technology and back-end processes. Then he set up a daily conference with functional counterparts to keep track of the progress on requirement finalization. With this approach, he delivered the project in three months, which usually requires six months. His system is twenty percent faster and has resulted in higher patient registrations. Additionally, the revamped system has helped the ministry immensely in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Inspired by the success of the delivery, the client wants to enable it for its global customers.
Additionally, he developed a couple of business reports, which assisted the management in decision making. It boosted the overall applicability of the product. In conclusion, his ability to bring together a different set of resources to deliver a product was the key to success.
Another key strength of Sambit is his mentorship. He leveraged Oracle tools to build the front-end for the patient management system. Once the development was over, he taught the critical development tools to several associates. This effort benefited the project after he left to handle new responsibilities when other associates worked independently in his absence. Apart from that, he also conducted classes to train fresh recruits in Oracle technologies.
He has been one of the sought-after resources in the account. His contribution to the project and customer relationship has resulted in further customer engagements through new contracts. Additionally, his contributions have helped our management to meet the revenue target set by the organization. As a result of his dedication and performance, he received his promotion last year.
2. Describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant’s response. (500 words)
As I mentioned earlier, Sambit was instrumental in delivering a modern Patient management system in a record time. But I feel he could have produced a much better outcome had he delegated the work from the beginning. Hence, I advised him to sharpen his leadership and management qualities by delegating his responsibilities to the team.
For example, when we received the approval to build the patient management system, Sambit handled all the core development works himself, delegating only non-essential tasks to other associates. He drove all aspects of the delivery: building the product technology, setting up conferences with the onsite team, and briefing the management about the progress. Occasionally, he also informed the customer IT team about the development and the bottlenecks in the delivery. I observed many times that he would extend his working hours to meet the expectations and targets. I appreciated that he wanted to take ownership of the project, but at this point, I also urged him to delegate works to other associates to avoid any rushed product. Additionally, it will also aid in his professional development by improving his time and people management skills.
He conveyed that he appreciated and valued the feedback that he received. I was delighted to see the difference in his approach to project delivery. He made a conscious effort to assign the work to other associates and planned the deliveries by working closing with the team and supervising them. By delegating his tasks, he could distribute and prioritize the assignments and control the product delivery quality. Delegation requires meticulous planning to formulate an effective way to manage tasks and resources by bringing all the stakeholders into the team execution strategy. I am confident that this trait will assist him in achieving his career objective.