Recommendation letter dilemma

Question

Hello,

I am planning on applying in Fall '15 and am starting to get my ducks in a row for application season. My first rec will come from my current supervisor but I am pretty unsure who to ask for a second.

First, some quick background on my work experience: After undergrad, I spent just under 2 years as a management consultant (Deloitte S&O) before making the transition into the Corporate Strategy group at a F500 retailer. In my current role, I am essentially an internal consultant. I have done pretty well at both companies, achieving top performance ratings and recently receiving a promotion at my current company.

In terms of the second recommendation, I see 3 viable options:

1) Someone else in my group at current employer (e.g. my supervisors boss, or higher up the chain). Could probably get someone with an impressive title to write this one, but it would be mostly the same perspective as my direct supervisor. That said, I would certainly do what I can to suggest to them that they highlight different aspects of my story.

2) Someone from another function at current employer, that I have worked with on a project. Given that I am an internal consultant, I would ask the recommender to write the letter from the perspective of a "client", and favorably describe the work I had done for them. Not sure how I would ask them to tackle the questions around providing feedback to me as they were not really in a position to give me professional feedback.

3) Former supervisor from my previous company. I have someone who I think would write a great letter, although I am wondering if drawing on someone from the past would raise questions about why I am drawing on someone from my past as opposed to a more current perspective.

Any thoughts would be most welcome, thanks!

CriticalSquare · Answer

Hey there,

I think they're all great options but #3 might be the best. The reason is simple - it's a different time in your professional life, you did really well, and it's from a different type of work. If you did #1, it seems it wouldn't add much diversity to the perspective. #2 is something perhaps your existing recommender could reference but I'm not sure if a) that person is the right person to write a bschool rec and b) if it warrants an entire rec from that perspective. Besides, your previous Deloitte recommender could talk about your work with clients too.

Hope that helps - love that you're thinking about it this early in the process!

Bhavik

Admissionado · Answer

Agree with Bhavik here. 
If you have had two main jobs, the schools might be expecting to hear a bit from each, and esp. if you have a good recommender there, then it totally makes sense.

Best,
Jon

manyatpr · Answer

Hi Andy3590,

We really liked the way you introspected the scenario of referees. Our recommendation would be to go by the third option as you have 2 years of work experience with them and also because you are already making use of one of your current supervisor. The first option would be repetitive, the second option can be used if some university requires three letter of recommendation.

All the best.
www.manyagroup.com

Recommendation letter dilemma

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