This is a sample recommendation letter from an employer/supervisor for MBA Admission.
1. What are the applicant’s major strengths?
The major strengths of Fred include excellent communication skills, positive attitude, flexibility, ability to prioritize, self-confidence, ability to cope with failures, ability to learn from mistakes, good analytic and planning skills, highly committed to work, good interpersonal skills, well organized and detail-oriented.
I have known Fred as an excellent communicator with good listening skills. With his patience and clarity of communication, he was able to handle sales, customers, as well as employee situations within STIRO. Additionally, his writing skills are great as evident from his reports and proposals.
Fred is highly committed to work. An instance of his high commitment to work the time he was involved in highly important advertising and marketing campaigns to boost the company’s performance. Fred created a team within a few days and coordinated with the team, and assigning various tasks to the team members. As the head of the team, he monitored each assigned task, checked performances and prepared written reports to the reviewed by the top management.
Fred’s flexibility, self-confidence and positive attitude towards new and challenging tasks are best summarised by his own expression: “Great! This will be fun to do!” He takes up new tasks with enthusiasm and does not shy away from taking up new responsibilities within his workplace. When taking them on, he is always hardworking and energetic, and eventually, comes out victorious.
Fred relates well with customers and employees in a respectful and humorous manner. His sense of humor and energy made it a joy to associate and work with him. Moreover, he is always willing to help his colleagues when they are faced with issues, and this makes him a valuable asset. He always comports himself and plans the tasks assigned to him in a timely and professional manner.
2. What are their most significant limitations?
The significant weaknesses I observed in Fred are his lack of work-life balance, and he works at a very different speed which others might find hard to keep up with.
Fred spends most of his time focusing on his tasks and dedicates little or no time to making or nurturing friendships. Making friends will help him from getting isolated due to high workloads and they will also give him support and positive energy. Even with the very few he has, it seems challenging to nurture them. Also, Fred spends more hours at the office, and this earned him more responsibility and projects at work. Though this has developed his career and reputation at STIRO, it has also affected other aspects of his life because he could not keep a work-life balance.
Fred is known to work at a speed different from his colleagues. Though he is used to it and evidence of his commitment and time-consciousness, most of the people working with him find this challenging to keep with or match with him, and this could affect the progress of tasks or projects.
3. How do you rate their intellectual & academic ability?
I would rate Fred’s intellectual and academic ability as first-rate. He has exhibited an impressive intellectual curiosity and logical thinking abilities beyond that of his colleagues at work.
4. Please give any further comments on the ratings you have made, and your assessment of how the applicant would contribute to the MBA.
I have studied Fred and I can affirm that he is intellectually sound. His suggestion and ideas during official meetings and when the organization was faced with difficult challenges or problems helped STIRO to overcome most of its problems when implemented. Additionally, he was part of the innovation team creating new procedures and policies on behalf of the organization, which he did excellently.
STIRO sponsored Fred to complete a CMI course. He came out excellently and was also one of the best course participants that completed the CMI course, which made STIRO proud of him.
I have no doubt about how Fred would perform at the MBA. He is academically sound and possesses all it requires to come out in flying colors from MBA School. He is well-mannered, and I am sure he would be a good ambassador of your school. Also, the MBA would help his career and contributions to any organization he works with, which will indirectly glorify the MBA.
