Trinity Dublin Letter of Recommendation Questions 2023-24
What do you consider to be the candidate’s principal strengths/talents?
What are the areas where the candidate has potential to improve?
1. What do you consider to be the candidate’s principal strengths/talents?
I have known the applicant for almost a year as she worked with us at Dinkar Marla and
Company in the capacity of a financial market researcher. During the complete duration, I
closely supervised her projects and tasks. She reported directly to me and showed great
enthusiasm and grit.
I can personally vouch for Aliza’s analytical ability, which was showcased through her
in-depth research in the brokerage reports. She was always willing to learn and unlearn in
order to get the desired outcome expected from her. She would take part in meaningful
discussions and soak in the different perspectives offered by other team members. However,
sometimes she is too critical of herself. But that does not stop her from achieving the team’s
targets. Aliza was open to feedback and worked actively as per the recommendations.
I would rate Aliza as a good applicant in relation to others. She has shown much personal
growth while she has been here. She contributed enormously to the KPIs set by the teams.
2. What are the areas where the candidate has potential to improve?
Aliza has a strong work ethic along with solid communication skills. She is well equipped and
capable of balancing the workload and the pressure she would face in college. Aliza is a
conscientious and gregarious individual who wishes the best for her team and often goes
above and beyond to help others in need. I am impressed by her competence and character.
Aliza has shown immense promise during her work experience. She has a diverse experience
in various fields and has learnt to manoeuvre the stress and expectations required of her.
She is fully ready to undertake this new challenge in life. The knowledge and the skills she will learn at the programme will prepare her well for future opportunities. She has
repeatedly proven that she is worthy by putting in long hours of work, enhancing
self-learning and training to deal with the commitment required of an MBA student. Her
thirst for knowledge and independence is what makes her an ideal candidate.
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1. What do you consider to be the candidate’s principal strengths/talents?
One of the key strengths of Isha, that also makes her shine in her role, is her ability to go beyond and bring creative ideas to the table and execute them elegantly. 4 months into the job, Isha came up with an idea called ‘Late Nights with Netflix’ for India’s Instagram page. While the project was aligned with Netflix’ social media strategy, it was difficult to gauge response and put money behind it. Naturally, there was resistance from the Netflix team when the idea was pitched. Isha stepped up and took complete ownership of this project’s performance. Even though this was Isha’s first project, she handled everything right from cost negotiations, design to content and production. The project could either be a huge success with vast consumer reach or a terrible failure. Isha took the chance but also planned out how we can measure success in the initial phase and stop if the idea doesn’t fly, thereby minimizing damage.Her detailed analysis and compelling storytelling capabilities gave Netflix the confidence to approve the project. Late Nights with Netflix was commissioned for 4 episodes but since the investment was high – Isha agreed with the client to do a test run with 2 episodes to weigh the outcome and decide further action. It was one of the first feature projects Isha led from start to end in a remote working environment which required taking total responsibility without being on ground and still managing to execute it smoothly. But what Isha did had more than a monetary impact on our agency. She set an example and brought about a cultural shift inspiring our creative team to be more confident about pitching bold ideas.
Another strength of Isha is her team and stakeholder management skills. Working in a creative agency means churning content on a regular basis with daily targets. Having such daily goals and targets put the team under a great deal of pressure. Isha was able to manage the team effectively and handle their emotions. She would take her time to ensure the client’s pressure isn’t transferred to the rest of the team. On the other hand, Isha also had a great knack for managing and delivering client expectations. Isha went beyond her role to understand the client’s business and their goals to the extent that she established herself as a credible and an important team member. I remember this one incident when 5 different 3rd party creative agencies working with Netflix reached out to Isha for inputs. This goes to say that Isha really earned our client Netflix’ trust and credibility to a large extent. Therefore, I believe Isha’ ability to take incredible ownership, be the center of it all and run the show makes her a great candidate for a future business lead.
2. What are the areas where the candidate has potential to improve?
The most constructive piece of feedback I gave to Isha is that she needs to learn when and where to stop fighting for her ideas. Isha is extremely passionate about her work and sometimes gets too attached to her ideas. As a result, she would display resistance towards any creative feedback. I specifically would like to mention one example when a simple post for our client took 5 rounds of feedback and 2 hours to be approved, while she could have used that time and effort on bigger production projects running parallely.
I spoke to Isha the same evening, where she explained how the idea came with a lot of effort from the creative team and that they would be demotivated if it did not go through. However, she also acknowledged that time spent on debating could have been used elsewhere productively. I told Isha that while it is important to believe in what we pitch, we need to know how to deal with feedback from a client and push back when required but also walk away when essential. I also counseled her that she needs to choose her battles wisely and be more open to feedback from clients. Isha took my advice with a pinch of salt, as she is creatively inclined and always advocates for her team. Overtime I saw her managing client situations more tactfully, keeping efficiency and productivity in mind. The client was also more open to discussion as she learnt to present with ration keeping emotions aside.
