Most of you might be developing strategies to start the conversation on MBA recommendation letter with your supervisors. But like in our essay review service where we encourage the applicant to define the post-MBA goal first, the response from your supervisor would be much better if you have articulated a clear value from an MBA program.
1) Build a Narrative
Your supervisors would know that an MBA is essential for your career growth if you are from Finance. For the rest of the industries and functions, the role of an MBA in improving your career option doesn’t excite them unless you build a narrative about your interests and skills outside the required job function. Depending on how often you interact with your supervisor, most of you would rather keep the work and extra-curricular/private persona separate. Although this is a great idea to maintain sanity, while asking for a recommendation letter, the supervisor is responding to the one-dimensional ‘employee’ persona. Depending on your extraversion skills, other aspects of your personality might have come to your supervisor’s attention. But don’t count on it. Instead, create a one-paragraph narrative on why you want to do an MBA with divergent interests outside the current role sprinkled into the conversation.
2) Supervisor’s Goals
The best moment to share your MBA plan is when you have helped the Supervisor cross some of the tasks from the to-do list. You should have a visible contribution to the team before requesting a recommendation letter. If not, at least take on a few extra tasks before approaching. We have a strong sense of reciprocity and justice with an extremely short memory.
3) Start with the Opportunity at the Current Job
Supervisors are old enough to understand that individual motivations and interests define the applicant’s career move. They realize that the current position could not fulfill all ambitious goals. However, starting the conversation with your ambition is a sure way to put the supervisor on a defensive. Always start with the opportunity in your current position and the growth you had experienced under the supervisor. It sounds phony. I know. But the anxiety to convey your MBA plan could set the conversation in the wrong direction. Reflect on the person you were as a new employee and the skills you have acquired until now. Start with the positive.
4) Your ‘new’ interest
Whether it is transitioning from Finance to Interior Designing, Doctor to Investment Banker, or Military to Marketing – we have heard it all. However, your supervisors need some backstory. The narrative, after expressing ‘gratitude’ for the opportunity, should immediately transition to the new interest. Some evidence of your interest in the form of a side project, volunteering or extra-curricular, should connect with the characteristics that are essential to succeed in the post-MBA role. The most common route we have seen applicant take with an MBA is a quant-heavy/analytical to a creative and human-centric role. If entering Marketing is your post-MBA goal, then your contribution to building the non-profit’s reach should be the central point of the conversation. They know you from the ‘job.’ But by conveying the interest, the recommenders will search for qualities of extraversion and branding even within the quant-heavy function.
5) Loyalty
If your current supervisor has played an active role in mentoring you professionally and personally, the task of asking for a recommendation letter and leaving the current organization might seem like a breach of loyalty against the mentor, culture of the ‘organization’ (start-up) and the management who had given a chance to grow. The thought that ‘your ambition’ would be a hindrance for the organization comes partly from procrastination and partly from an exaggerated sense of self. We all are replaceable in the market and jobs. There is a small window of opportunity where you can take the risk. So don’t let a false sense of loyalty delay the conversation.
Supervisors travel. Holidays add up. Project deadlines will put your letters on hold. Start early. Start now.
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