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McMaster Letter of Recommendation Questions
- How long and in what capacity have you known the candidate? (No word limit)
- If this is a work-related reference, in what position is/was the candidate employed and for how long? (No word limit)
- What do you consider to be the candidate’s principal strengths/talents? (No word limit)
- What do you consider to be the candidate’s weaknesses or areas that need improvement? (No word limit)
McMaster Letter of Recommendation Example – 1
1. How long and in what capacity have you known the applicant? Please be specific.
I have known Aditya for about 2.5 years. I am the head of the Part Strategy and Cost Engine division and Aditya has been an integral part of my tem for the last 2.5 years.
2. What are the applicant’s most outstanding abilities or characteristics?
The best trait I see in Aditya is his ability to handle pressure.
Last couple of years have been quite challenging for industry as a whole due to abrupt changes in laws related to the vehicle industry. Indian government introduced a new tax reform (GST), logistics laws (E-way) and committed to stricter emissions standards.
In order to timely comply with these regulations a lot of work was done in a short period of time resulting in immense pressure on our employees. Under these circumstances Aditya consistently completed his targets well within prescribed time and in line with the company direction thus acquitted himself well and establishing himself as a calm, motivated and ambitious person.
Furthermore he has displayed above average ability to grasp new skills and another distinguished trait that I have noticed in due period of two years is that he can quickly read through the temperament of another person and conduct himself accordingly thus ensuring smooth business negotiations.
3. What are the applicant’s most noticeable weaknesses?
Aditya is a very sincere worker with very positive demeanour, but his over polite attitude and the softness in voice sometimes has let him down.
At times i have noticed that he fails to clearly convey the urgency or the importance of a particular objective. He should work on his communication skills especially tone modalities so that a third person understands the importance and does devote due time to the assigned task.
I have advised Aditya regarding this issue with him in our mid-year career conversations in 2019 while commending him on his overall professionalism. He was very responsive and welcoming of my review and I believe he has improved based upon my feedback as I did not come across such an incident again.
McMaster Letter of Recommendation Example – 2
1. How long and in what capacity have you known the applicant? Please be specific.
Aditya was placed under my tutelage in Part Strategy and Cost Engine division when he joined this company in July 2017. Since then, it has been more than 2.5 years where I have known and worked with him.
2. What are the applicant’s most outstanding abilities or characteristics?
I believe one of Aditya’s core strengths is ability to think out of the box and audacity to propose and get his ideas implemented.
He has taken many initiatives to propose & implement improvement (Kaizen)/VA-VE at supplier companies assigned to him. Implementing such ideas requires getting the supplier company’s management on board with the idea and financial investment. Therefore with the implementation of such initiatives he has proven not only the quality of his initiatives but also displayed his leadership skills in getting the ideas implemented. On account of the quality of his above mentioned work he has been awarded a few awards (Kaizen awards) in the past two years. In 2019, he was positioned second in our division for his improvement in a stem steering trolley design.
Furthermore I would like to advise that he is a very motivated and positive individual. His joining of this company coincided with implementation of GST regulations and announcement of BS6 emission standards. He worked tirelessly, sometimes over 15 hours a day, under pressure to help the team to meet the set goals and deadlines.
3. What are the applicant’s most noticeable weaknesses?
I believe that Aditya’s biggest limitation is his operations management skills. Though he has been nurtured in the supply chain domain from the beginning of his career but he sometimes tends to count and have faith in his supplier’s word without considering delay or failure as a possibility.
Due to this reason he did not meet an assigned deadline a few months back, and this is when I advised him to take account of possible delays or failure in business negotiations and leave adequate time for improvement. I am happy to see that took the feedback positively and I have observed a good change in his working methodology ever since. Now he tends to assign more than one supplier on a single job to avert such delays or failures.