Weakness Discussion

Question

Hi All,

I'm in the midst of drawing up points for my recommenders before I send them out to write. I'm trying to think of potential points to guide those writing, especially for the area discussion areas of improvement or weaknesses. Of course, these are my "areas of improvement" but I'm having difficulty brandstorming, and I wanted to start a discuss for help. My problem is that I selected one of my mentees to write a recommendation stating how I'm a good mentor/leader. This person is a former mentee so I'll definitely get a honest opinion. Since this person is not my "direct manager" recommendation, they'll probably have a issue coming up with a improvement area. Can anyone think of something that could be aided with a MBA that a mentee could address as a weakness?

Thanks,
Jimmy

refurb · Answer

One good weakness type to point out is one that is due to a lack of experience in a specific area. In other words, ones that can be fixed (even better if an MBA will fix them).

If you've only had minimal experience supervising others, a weakness such as providing quality feedback is a good one. No one can really fault you for not having the experience (unless your poor work progress is the cause).

The way that you recommender states your weakness can have a huge impact on how negatively the adcoms perceive it. If your recommender can point out that it's a fixable problem, that helps.

RF

tmino · Answer

I'd try to get a recommendation from someone else than your mentee. Already having one from a peer is not that great, but from a mentee? Ideally, I would get one from a current supervisor and one from a previous/other supervisor (at same or previous company or club/EC, etc.). Anybody else have any thoughts on this?

jimmyjamesdonkey · Answer

refurb not sure I understand your response.

I think having a recommendation from a mentee is actually a very good idea. My first recommendation is from my current supervisor who I've had daily interaction for two years. My supervisor is also my mentor as well. I think having my former mentee write a recommendation is plus. When the question asks...how is this person mentoring or managing someone, my direct supervisor can comment on managing someone and my former mentee can comment on me being a great mentor. I think this approach shows a holistic picture of a applicant, rather than have two recommendations from two supervisors.

I don't see how a former mentee and coworker on the same at all. A coworker is on the same level and considered a friend. A mentee/mentor relationship demonstrated friendship, guidance, wisdom, and leadership.

refurb · Answer

Well my example wasn't that great considering the recommender is your mentee.

Anywho, my point was, the best weaknesses for a recommender to mention are ones you can fix.

Your mentee should actually have no problem coming up with a weakness. I know I could come up with a few for my current boss.

RF

jimmyjamesdonkey · Answer

That's the thing. I'm not the recommenders boss, I'm their mentor. They liked me enough to ask me to mentor them. There is plenty for them to say why I am a great mentor (since they asked me to be one), but I'm not sure what they can say is a weakness.

mbagal1 · Answer

Hi

If you are willing to invest in it - try career leader (https://www.careerleader.com/). Aside from providing career advice based on your advice, it also allows you to get 360 degree feedback from different people. I found it useful to ask my recommenders to provide feedback on it confidentially, where I only see the aggregated average ratings, and not the individual ratings of people - it gave me a clearer picture of where I need to improve, and gave them a clearer picture of what they thought were my weaknesses. I have seen that for most people, as long as feedback is perceived as confidential, people will have some idea of what a person's weaknesses are and will articulate it.

Of course, I realize not everyone may want to buy it, especially since as a student, you may get free access to it.

The next option is to have a frank conversation with your mentee and ask him to be candid in what he thinks your weaknesses are. If your mentee feels comfortable sharing this information with you, he is sure to think of something, however minor.

The other option is you list a three to four weaknesses you perceive in yourself and ask your mentee to pick one that he concurs with. And yes, you may want to pick weaknesses that you may have started working on improving already, or can be improved easily.

Hope this helps.

H

jimmyjamesdonkey · Answer

anyone else chime in?

ca662 · Answer

You should be creative and genuine in your weaknesses essay without revealing too many things that can hurt you. This essay is great practice for interviews when this same question comes up. Everybody has heard the cliche answers many times and noone buys them.

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