[REFERENCES LETTER] She has demonstrated an exceptional ability to grasp the rigorous demands of job

Hi EF,
I was asked to draft a letter of recommendation for Chevening application by my former Project Manager. Input from you will be welcomed.

The reference should cover the following:
1) How long have you known the applicant?
2) In what capacity do you know the applicant? (e.g. professional, educational, supervisory, voluntary, religious)
3) When you last had regular contact with the applicant?
4) A brief overall endorsement of the applicant.

she will be an asset to your program

It is with great confidence that I write this letter of recommendation on behalf of Sehat Dinati Simamora.

In my capacity as her former Project Manager of APINDO (The Employer's Association of Indonesia)-EU ACTIVE (Advancing Indonesia's Civil Society in Trade and Investment), a highly respected project for preparation Comprehensive Economic Parnetship Agreement (CEPA) between EU-Indonesia, I have supervised Sehat's work directly since she joined us in February until November, 2014. Until now, Sehat and I stay keep contact because even though we are not working on the same project anymore, our current jobs are still related on economics and development areas. Therefore, we still meet often with our former team to discuss current issues and also update each other's work as a mean of knowledge sharing. Hence, it is appropriate in this letter of recommendation to review Sehat's contributions to our project.

Since the first day of her tenure with us, Sehat has demonstrated an exceptional ability to grasp the rigorous demands of the job. A Junior Economist at APINDO-EU ACTIVE Project must undertake research on and analysis of the needs and strategies of business sector in Indonesia, conduct policy oriented research and develop relevant policy recommendation on issues on a range of topics (trade issues, investment, services, and barriers to competitiveness, logistics and transport and capacity building requirements for business), assist in the preparation of negotiating positions and submissions to Government of Indonesia, prepare presentations and policy position papers for the APINDO Board in cooperation with the Public Outreach and Media Officer, work with member survey information and economic data for the APINDO Board and for the publication, and participate in capacity building programs for small-medium-enterprises for certain sectors in regions (Medan, Semarang, Surabaya, and Jakarta). Beyond the complex policy and economic analysis that Sehat has performed in our team, she showed a distinct learning skill, determination towards perfection, unquestionable passion in industrial and environmental economics. Among Sehat's two strongest attributes is her communication skills, and she demonstrates a balance of a pure scientist and marketer with her personal and intellectual qualities.

Sehat often became the assistant Shinta Widjaja Kamdani (APINDO Board who is also the President of Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development) in preparing presentation materials and attending the relevant national and international forums for sustainable development. It gave Sehat great opportunities to learn many things and meet key figures that related to sustainable development movement in Indonesia. I am convinced this network will be very useful and certainly utilized by Sehat in her career as an economist and policy makers in the future.

Sehat was also responsible for handling capacity building for SMEs businessmen for coffee, cacao, textiles and textile products, footwear, furniture, handicrafts, shrimp, tuna and other seafood products. She was in charged for the content material presented by speakers and led the survey for the participants that related to industry conditions. Within the framework of capacity building, Sehat prepared two market brief market about the strategies of exporting to the EU as a guide for SMEs to exports and/or to increase their exports.

Here, I saw Sehat's personal, intellectual, and interpersonal qualities. Months before the event, Sehat took advantage of her networking to collect SMEs data in various cities. After gained, she had to contact and convince them to participate in this capacity building. With a wide variety of backgrounds of participants, Sehat showed an excellent interpersonal qualities in dealing with the SMEs' employers who are far more senior than her either before or during the activity. She could be flexible in leading the participants to attend each session and mediated debates that took place during the discussions when needed.

In summary, Sehat is well-suited to study in a graduate program aboard. She has not only the capability, but also the motivatioin to succeedd. Consequently, I am confident that Sehat will be an asset to your program and I recommend to you in the highest terms.

In as much you are required to comment on her abilities as fully as possible,I think shorter version of this letter would do for recommendation letter.

Sehat, in as much as this is a worthy letter of recommendation, it has been to long since you last worked with this person on a personal basis. An effective recommendation letter comes from a person whom you still currently work with but have had a long standing professional relationship with. There is a reason why the length of time that the person has known you professionally is significant. It has to do with the fact that the person recommending you needs to be able to vouch for your most current abilities as a professional. The person who is recommending you cannot be a mere friend you meet from time to time. The gap in time since you last worked together is too long for the person to actively know your current professional abilities. The most effective form of this letter should be from someone whose last professional interaction with you was in 2016. Your current supervisor or team leader would be the best person to get the recommendation from. That is because such a person can refer to the most recent projects you worked on in relation to the information you provided in your self introduction and other papers. This recommendation is also a validation of the information you submitted as your professional qualifications.

The main problem with this letter is that you write the recommendation letter which is why it doesn't respond directly to the instructions provided. It is very self serving and, even without your feeling me that you write this for someone, I could tell that you personally wrote it. This is a glorified personal statement and extension of your resume. It is not a properly formatted, nor guide question responsive recommendation.

You have to write this letter in a more responsive and deliberate manner. Short-term the letter, remove the personal choice from the information and focus on simply offering direct response to the requirement with only the most impressive recommendation points presented. More importantly, try not to use poison descriptions that only those from your country are familiar with. Use the English equivalent whenever you can or explain what the position description is all about.

@Holt

Dear Mary,
I do wait on your comment. Thank you so much for the insightful inputs.

1. My current Boss, whom I work with for almost 2 years, actually writen by himself for my recommendation letter. So, I have nothing to do with it.

2. As you stated before, in my other essay, my referee could be someone from socio-civic. Actually, this one is more related, which I worked together in 2016. But, they are from my church, which we did project to remote area. Do you think they are reliable enough for my essay?

3. Actually, I have no idea on construct recommendation letter since I never did it before. Would you tell me, if you dont mind, which part should I remove, and which one should I shorten, Mary? Please help me, if you dont mind.

4. Im so sorry, but I cant get which one you mean with poison descriptions?

Thank you before, Mary!

How can you tell me that your manager was the one who wrote this letter when you clearly said in your posting that:


To say that you were asked to draft a letter means that you wrote the original content. So you cannot make conflicting claims regarding who wrote the letter. Regardless, the letter is too self serving in this original form. Like I said, it is an extension of your resume and does not sound like someone other than you wrote it. It can still be fixed though. Now, in response to your other questions...

2. The correct term is referrer, not referee. A referee is an official who watches a game or match closely to ensure that the rules are adhered to and (in some sports) to arbitrate on matters arising from the play. Please make sure to use the correct term from now on. Yes, you can use the leader from your socio-civic environment for this letter, provided it is for a different application. However, a more recent professional reference would be best because that will tie in with your professional / academic development in reference to the masters degree you wish to pursue.

3. Review the prompt requirements. In number 4, you are asked to briefly discuss a series of character traits. That is the part of the essay that you can shorten. Try to combine all of the traits into one description in one paragraph. Do not outline all of your duties and responsibilities over a series of paragraphs. Just summarize the necessary information based upon the brief summary required.

4. Sorry about that. It was an auto correct that I neglected to proof read. I meant "professional" descriptions that are understood by only the people in your country because it is a term native to your language.

@Holt

Dear Mary,

1. Sorry. I didnt state it clearly. Chevening asked the applicant to submit two references letter so I need two referrers. The most relevant with me now for profesional working is my current Boss, which I've worked with him about 2years until now. He writes my references letter by himself. That's what I mean exactly. This one that I wrote the draft was for another referrers from profesional side also, my former Project Manager whom I worked with in 2014.

2. Well noted, Mary.

3. I'll try to revise it and post it here soon.

Sehat, keep the continued balance in your referral letters. Always present one professional and one extra curricular / socio-civic recommendation. That way you present your well rounded personality to the reviewer and allow him to see how you function both in and out of the office, in differing scenarios. If possible, highlight the international communities that you work with and how you handled the projects with them so you can prove that you have what it takes to survive studying abroad. The main concern of the letter is how well you will be able to handle yourself once you are left to your own devices in a foreign land. That is why they want to know about those 4 aspects of your character traits. If possible, use only one, big, and impressive project to relay all of the required information that can be most impressive to the reviewer.