The strengths recommendation letter question can make or break your admissions. After you have persuaded your supervisor to include relevant examples and highlight qualities that are unique and also important for admissions, make sure that you avoid these 3 mistakes:
1) Cliched narratives
For a consultant like me where I read a lot of recommendation letters for review, I noticed that there are two cliches. Cliched openers and closing lines which is tolerable. It is like certain phrases that have become part of our culture in communication like – “Hope you are doing well”, “With reference to our last communication,” and so on. But the problem is with paragraphs that can be interchanged for any candidate.
These are some versions of a strength opener or closing paragraph that has worked. Now what has happened is that everybody is using it in some form. So the supervisor’s voice is masked in the end with a cliched paragraph. When you ask a consultant to review it ask them if the opening and closing paragraphs are standing out or is it aligned with the rest of the paragraphs that the supervisor has written.
For instance, if the applicant’s leadership is a stand-out quality. Just concluding with a generic line about leadership is a risk. A better approach is to be specific with the leadership trait and highlight that in the concluding paragraph. Any evidence of sacrifice and a thinking beyond personal goals are often rare in recommendation letter. If you have such examples, ask your supervisor to highlight them.
2) No Context
It can get comical when applicants with 1-2 years of experience write about changing culture or persuading CXO. It is not believable unless you worked in a startup. And the best place to validate these unique dynamics is in the first question. The recommender is expected to write the number of years that person has known the applicant and the roles the applicant had taken on. In addition to the role, the supervisor can also hint at the unique responsibilities that the applicant had even if the person had only 1-2 years of experience.
This line is not just important for the recommendation letter but also validates the professional achievements captured in the essays.
3) No Comparative Metrics
The common strengths LOR question is
How do the candidate's performance, potential, background, or personal qualities compare to those of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? Please provide specific examples.
Most supervisor offer specific examples, but they don’t write a comparative line like “Among the 100+ employees in our company, the applicant is a top 1% performer” and so on.
When the supervisor starts with such a line or at least mention it in an IMPACTFUL part of the letter, the admissions team could have no option but to pay attention to why you are different. It is a matter of strategically placing the comparative line in the letter.