Recommendation- weakness issue

Question

Hello,

One of my recommender feels that my weakness is lack of experience. I am 25 and did my bachelor's, worked for a year then came to States to pursue Master's and worked for another year. Thus I have 2 yrs of full time work ex, including 1 yr working under the recommender and no internships of any sort. Currently I am unemployed and volunteer with a local Non-profit organization & it will be 1yr this August.
Will this volunteer work be considered as an experience? Additionally, in what way my recommender can express what he feels is my weakness in better words?

River10 · Answer

62 views!!!!!!!!!! No response! Nobody ever faced this issue???

unplugged · Answer

The answer to your question is not simple and neither it is straight forward

First, why does your recommender think that your work experience is on the lower side? Who is he comparing you with? What is his evaluation criteria? You might want to probe him as to what he means by 'lack of experience' - Does he feel that your maturiry levels are lower? or your ability to handle conflict is a concern? or your technical skills are not top-notch?

Second, I feel this might have an implication on your application strategy. Typically, 2yrs of full time work-ex + 1yr volunteer( this is counted as full time work ex provided you are working full time) is lower than the average work-ex of candidates at most schools. So, you might want your recommenders to comment especially on your achievements/leadership skills/teamwork etc, which will mitigate your 2 or 3yrs of work experience.

If your positioning in the essays doesn't address this issue, it will do your application no good if your recommender comments in the way he plans to

Unplugged

River10 · Answer

Thank you for the response. I think my recomender's opinion has more to do with the fact that I worked under him or with his company for a year. But anyways I have addressed this issue in my essays.

ksjhawk · Answer

Your recommendations need to point out why your limited experience is especially relevant to an MBA program and your post-MBA goals. They also need to suggest that you're especially mature and have leadership potential, even if you haven't had many opportunities to use it in the workplace yet. So if your recommender is suggesting that he won't be expressing these points, I would suggest finding someone else to give a recommendation.

That said, most of us (including myself) never have a chance to read our recommendations. I stressed the above points to my recommenders, along with providing a detailed account of my accomplishments and abilities. You just have to make sure they understand what an important part of your application package they have, and remind them why you deserve a great recommendation. It's an obstacle to overcome, but I'm 23 with 16 months work experience and I was admitted to a couple of great programs. So don't stress!

Recommendation- weakness issue

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