Emory Goizueta Letter of Recommendation Questions
- Please indicate to which group you are comparing this candidate (e.g., co-worker, MBA graduate, etc.)
- What characteristics or attributes best describe the applicant?
- In what area(s) does the applicant need improvement? Describe the applicant’s awareness of these areas and response to constructive feedback.
- How would you describe the applicant’s interpersonal skills and the impression they make in meetings, presentations, or other interactions? Is the applicant effective when working in a team?
- If there is any additional information you’d like to share?
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Emory Goizueta Letter of Recommendation Example – 1
1. Please indicate to which group you are comparing this candidate (e.g., co-worker, MBA graduate, etc.)
With co-workers, undergraduate students and graduate students (MBA),.
I have known Shruti (Name changed) for the last ten months. As the founder of a company called Pixtory where Shruti (Name changed) has been driving all engineering efforts, I am her direct supervisor.
2. What characteristics or attributes best describe the applicant?
Shruti (Name changed)’s most outstanding attribute is her passion and dedication to something that she believes in. She will go all out to make it happen and take complete ownership of the activity. She has demonstrated that in driving Pixtory.
Prior to working in Pixtory, she had mostly worked for B2B clients in a process-driven organization. However, we are an app-based bootstrap with B2C focus. Despite the stark differences in domain and working styles, she was extremely quick to blend in and adapt.
She quickly moved on to take additional responsibilities and started owning and driving
all things around Front end Development. Today she is driving a significant piece of our Engineering efforts at Pixtory.
It is this quality which I believe will hold her in good stead when she goes through her MBA program and her subsequent career.
3. In what area is the applicant most exceptional?
Shruti (Name changed) has strong problem-solving skills. She approaches any problem in a structured way and tries to come up with creative solutions. For instance, after the beta launch of our product, we were struggling with a low user retention ratio. Many users downloaded the app but never logged in. To solve this issue, Shruti (Name changed) diligently first found out the root cause, using data analytics tools, that many users were opting for only Google login which was failing because of technical issues. She then worked along with the engineering team to fix it and suggested an alternate strategy of automated email communication to the user if in any case login fails. This helped in increasing user retention from 55% to 80%.
4. In what area does the applicant need improvement?
Shruti (Name changed) has to focus more on her program management skills. There are times when she gets deeply caught up in her current stream of work. She needs to be able to step back at regular intervals before she deep dives into her stream of work.
Shruti (Name changed) is aware of this aspect and I’ve seen some improvement in this area. She plans to continue focusing on this aspect and that should help her overcome this area of focus.
5. How well do you feel the applicant handles disappointment or differences of opinion?
Regarding handling disappointment, I want to mention her high emotional maturity and positive attitude. I have seen that she takes her failures as an opportunity to learn and grow. As, I mentioned earlier she was struggling in program management, given there were multiple streams of work going in parallel. Though she struggled initially, she now spends efforts to improvise in this area.
She is also very polite in handling differences of opinions. She has an amicable perShruti (Name changed)ty which helps her in adapting to teams very quickly. Shruti (Name changed) discusses all the matters with the entire team and considers every team member’s opinions before taking any decision.
All to be answered in 150 words,
->If there is any additional information you’d like to share, you may provide it in the textbox or by uploading a letter below. Thank you for taking the time to recommend this applicant to a Goizueta MBA program.
Shruti (Name changed) has played a pivotal role in the launch of Pixtory.
We are working on Pixtory with very aggressive timelines. Despite this, Shruti (Name changed) was able to deliver a high-quality product with a very quick turnaround. She’s played a critical part in defining product strategy and user acquisition strategy.
I’m sure that she’ll put in her best and do very well in whatever she picks up.
Emory Goizueta Letter of Recommendation Example – 2
1. Please indicate to which group you are comparing this candidate (e.g., co-worker, MBA graduate, etc.)
With co-workers, and graduate students (Masters in Engineering).
I am working closely with Amber (Name changed) for more than one and a half year as senior program lead and she reports to me in current engagement.
2. What characteristics or attributes best describe the applicant?
Amber (Name changed) consistently displays strong leadership skills along with her ability to not just cope in difficult situations but to actually thrive in them.
During initial phase of her current engagement though Amber (Name changed) was very new to the team, she played important role in building trust with the client. The project was already delayed and the client was skeptical on the overall delivery schedule. That is when Amber (Name changed) voluntarily stepped up to take charge of the situation. She worked with the technology vendor to ensure technical challenges are resolved timely. She built a rapport with clients and managed their expectations through timely delivery and effective communication.
This shows her ability to tackle all the challenges that accompany a significant role. She carries out every responsibility very efficiently and in a timely manner. Amber (Name changed) also proactively participates in various employee engagement and recruitment events held in the firm.
3. In what area is the applicant most exceptional?
As mentioned earlier as well, Amber (Name changed) has shown great interpersonal skills through the way she manages communication with client, onsite folks, multiple vendors, and other team members from China. She has acted as a single point of contact between the client and multiple offshore teams in many situations.
With her positive attitude and intellectual curiosity, she well manages to cope up with pressure of tight deadlines that is very common in the consulting industry. For example, in current engagement with team members in different countries and time zones, communication as a whole was a challenge. That is when Amber (Name changed) worked outside her office hours to manage project work between a globally dispersed team. Also, during the project, she has built a strong work relationship with clients and team members
4. In what area does the applicant need improvement?
Amber (Name changed)’s perAmber (Name changed)ty is naturally straight forward. She gets straightforward at times and speaks directly to the point. While working with multiple teams, she had to be subtle with those who are not able to keep up with the plan/timeline pressure and handle situations accordingly. I have noticed in a few situations she gave feedback in strong words to the team members who were not putting required efforts.
She is aware of this, and now she tries to make it a point to take people by the side and communicate more tactfully.
5. How well do you feel the applicant handles disappointment or differences of opinion?
I have seen her handling disappointment and differences of opinions responsibly and positively. She accommodates every team member’s opinions. Even during situation of conflicts, she speaks her mind and tries to put forward logical arguments.
Sometime back management wanted to recruit more technical senior resources for the project, whereas Amber (Name changed) wanted junior resources who are open to learn and work on different technologies. After a discussion with management, she understood and agreed that there were various factors due to which they prefer senior resources over junior ones.
She posses a great quality of making disappointment and conflicts a part of her learning/growth curve.
All to be answered in 150 words
->If there is any additional information you’d like to share, you may provide it in the textbox or by uploading a letter below. Thank you for taking the time to recommend this applicant to a Goizueta MBA program.
Amber (Name changed) deserve high applaud for the way she handled herself in the new engagement. Her future looks bright.
In any case, I am confident that Amber (Name changed) will be able to face any situation or challenges with her interpersonal skills and emphasis on efficiency and will use her experience and abilities to be successful in Mba program.
Atlast I am attaching appreciation email she received from one of the PwC Director.
“Alex, Udaya,
I wanted to take a moment to provide our feedback and thanks for all of Amber (Name changed)’s efforts on the Westar project. While the team is working well it is important that we note Amber (Name changed)’s contributions in driving the most complex elements of our project and demonstrating her ability to react and respond both quickly and very effectively in challenging situations.
Whether she is developing requirements that are assigned directly to her, leading and supporting other members of the team or participating in discussions with the on-shore team, Westar representatives or IBM project experts her approach and contributions are first rate.
We consider Amber (Name changed) to be the most critical member of our offshore team and would recommend this be recognized not only in terms of her individual contributions but also in the leadership role she performs in mentoring and directing other members of the team.
Please pass on our gratitude to the relevant people in the SDC, Amber (Name changed) deserves to be recognized for her contributions and rewarded appropriately.
regards,
Chris Lawless”