I would recommend some sleep
My first official all-nighter of this application season. It's 6:18 in the morning and I just spent 3 hours being educated in the hard, hard art of recommendation writing.
Nope, I'm not writing my own recommendations. I was contacted by a company to write a letter of reference for an ex-manager of mine who's aiming for a VP/Director-level position there. I must say it felt great that someone would think so highly of me to use me as a reference for a position so important. So, I set out to do the best job I could. And it was hard. They sent me a form and I had to answer 12 questions, ranging from strengths, to greatest weaknesses, to would you hire this guy, etc. It was only after I started to write it that I realized the enormity of what I was doing. My words could potentially have a role to play in deciding the direction of someone's career. That's some serious pressure. After three hours of thought and wordsmithing, it's done and sent its way and I'd like to think I did a good job to the best of my ability.
It was also a window into what my recommenders must be going through. I realize I was a bad, bad person for not giving them enough lead time last year. This time, things are going to be a tad different. One of my Wharton recommendations has already been submitted, and Berkeley is being worked on and should be ready to go this weekend. My second Wharton recommendation, on the other hand, is in some deep doodoo. My recommender is maha-busy (an Indianized-English phrase from where I come from that loosely translates to super-busy) and will 'try' to get it in before the 14th. I hope it works out. Else it's going to be some maha-deja-vu. I had a recommendation submitted 2 hours after the R3 deadline last year, but thanks to the generosity of the good people at Wharton, I was afforded a consideration. This time, I think it may mean automatic R2 which would suck maha-big-time.
I'm seriously considering closing my eyes for a few minutes. But I fully well know what that means, so I'm going to go get some coffee, take a shower and head out to work early. Back home tomorrow at around 5 and go to bed. Wake up around midnight and go all night again. The problem is, once the sleep cyle is disturbed, it's maha-hard to get back in rhythm.
Damn. I wish I didn't have to write that recommendation ;-)
Nope, I'm not writing my own recommendations. I was contacted by a company to write a letter of reference for an ex-manager of mine who's aiming for a VP/Director-level position there. I must say it felt great that someone would think so highly of me to use me as a reference for a position so important. So, I set out to do the best job I could. And it was hard. They sent me a form and I had to answer 12 questions, ranging from strengths, to greatest weaknesses, to would you hire this guy, etc. It was only after I started to write it that I realized the enormity of what I was doing. My words could potentially have a role to play in deciding the direction of someone's career. That's some serious pressure. After three hours of thought and wordsmithing, it's done and sent its way and I'd like to think I did a good job to the best of my ability.
It was also a window into what my recommenders must be going through. I realize I was a bad, bad person for not giving them enough lead time last year. This time, things are going to be a tad different. One of my Wharton recommendations has already been submitted, and Berkeley is being worked on and should be ready to go this weekend. My second Wharton recommendation, on the other hand, is in some deep doodoo. My recommender is maha-busy (an Indianized-English phrase from where I come from that loosely translates to super-busy) and will 'try' to get it in before the 14th. I hope it works out. Else it's going to be some maha-deja-vu. I had a recommendation submitted 2 hours after the R3 deadline last year, but thanks to the generosity of the good people at Wharton, I was afforded a consideration. This time, I think it may mean automatic R2 which would suck maha-big-time.
I'm seriously considering closing my eyes for a few minutes. But I fully well know what that means, so I'm going to go get some coffee, take a shower and head out to work early. Back home tomorrow at around 5 and go to bed. Wake up around midnight and go all night again. The problem is, once the sleep cyle is disturbed, it's maha-hard to get back in rhythm.
Damn. I wish I didn't have to write that recommendation ;-)
posted by PowerYogi at 5:18 AM
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