I am talking about one of my referees. He was supposed to provide me with a letter of recommendation for my applications this season, a season which has almost come to an end without a good start with 2 dings out of 2 apps so far.
He was the manager at my previous organization and it seems he had some issues with HR in giving out recos. God knows what the issue might be, but the reality is I am short of one recommendation, right at the critical phase.
Finally, talked to one QA manager at my current company and got him to write something for me. Thinking of it, I feel I should have opted for this guy from the very outset.
Here are a few lessons I learnt about the recommendation thing:
1. If you are not starting early, and have not decided about the schools in advance (both deadly signs though), get a referee who is in regular contact and can provide you references in very less time. I wasted so much time in getting touch with the person who was in a different city than mine in getting 2 references, which he finally declined to give.
2. Its important that you discuss matters with the referee first, better to do it face-to-face than over phone or emails. This makes things clear and makes a good recommedation.
3. And finally, do not keep recommendations for the last. I would suggest to ask them to be sent out before you submit the application, and that too before the end date. Believe me you will feel a lot better after you have submitted the application in time, and do not have other worries. Also it makes sure you do not miss the deadline for that round. It really helps, especially if you have chalked out the application strategy for each round.
1 comment:
thanks for the kind advice. i experienced something really worse -- a referee dumping me 2 days before the deadline. thank God i had a back-up!
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