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Challenge #2
The Ideal Recommendation
Letter
Problem
A lot of times, we forget just how important your boss can be. In most cases, your boss will be
one of the following: mentor, evaluator, reference, recommender, and even a friend. Often
times, this is the single most important connection you’ll make at your internship---and you must
prioritize making sure you end your internship in the best possible terms. After dealing with
three very different bosses---at Google, The White House, and Microsoft--here is the
unequivocally most effective way to ensure a strong connection with your boss.
Introduction
After the first or second week, write the most ideal letter of recommendation you would want to
get from your boss at the conclusion of your internship. I mean it---write about yourself and the
most ideal points you want your boss to say about you at the end: That you were a leader even
though you had no formal title? That you took the initiative when no one else did? That you went
above and beyond and were appreciated by everyone on your team? Be as specific as possible
and convey the qualities that, 12 weeks from now, you want your boss to rave about you. When
you apply to graduate school, a prestigious scholarship, or even another job, chances are that
your manager will be the one you reference as a recommender. Be proactive, follow this rule,
and you maximize your chances of having your boss praising your qualities. (Protip: 2/3 of my
recommendations to Harvard Business School came from prior bosses…they are some of the
most qualified people to for MBA/Master programs.)
Examples
Here is one of the most outstanding letters of rec. I have come across:
Dear Selection Committee,
I am writing this letter to give my highest possible recommendation for Mr. Smith. I know Mr.
Smith through his work in my laboratory. Mr. Smith first approached me two years ago about
the possibility of work in my laboratory for a summer. At our first meeting I described the general
outline of the project the he might work on. He asked good questions and appeared intelligent.
He then went to the library and found many papers on the subject and read them carefully. He
did this independently - I did not ask him to do this. I learned that he had done this at our second
meeting, and I was quite impressed at his motivation and independence. Mr. Smith obtained
funding from a program at our University to work in the lab for a summer.
During that summer, Mr. Smith demonstrated the ability to work independently with great
creativity and enthusiasm. He also put in many long hours. He worked as hard as my best
graduate student. I teamed Mr. Smith with another student to work on a project involving
testing of patients having shoulder pathology. The project included recruiting patients, testing
patients using biomechanical instrumentation, and data analysis. Mr. Smith excelled in each one
of these areas. His interpersonal skills were excellent. He “schmoozed” the clinical staff to
facilitate recruitment of patients. He tested the patients professionally. Sometimes this testing
required long days due to the extensive setup and calibration of equipment each morning before
the clinic began operation. He stayed after the testing sessions to back up data, clean up the
area, and start data processing programs to run overnight. He was usually the first one in the lab
in the morning and the last to leave in the evening.
The other student working with Mr. Smith commented favorably about working with Mr. Smith.
He said the Mr. Smith got along well with everyone, pulled his own weight on the project, and
had the ability to compromise with other team members. One incident illustrates this point.
There is a staff member in an adjoining lab that is a rather prickly person who has had many
problems with students in the past. Mr. Smith had to interact with this staff person in order to
get his project done. Mr. Smith was able to find a common interest with this staff person, which
was folk dancing, and build a rapport based on this mutual interest. At the end of the summer
the staff person noted what a pleasure it was to work with Mr. Smith.
Mr. Smith also volunteered to help others in the lab. One of the other students was doing a
project on knee biomechanics, and it required harvesting knees from the University’s morgue.
Mr. Smith volunteered to help harvest the knees on several occasions. I asked the graduate
student in charge of that project about Mr. Smith, and he commented that Mr. Smith has
excellent dissection skills.
I was especially taken by Mr. Smith’s creative mind and independent work ethic. He continued to
read the literature independently and generate interesting hypotheses. We met about every
other week, and at several meetings he presented papers and information that was new to me.
By the end of the summer he was introducing me to scientific papers that were directly relevant
to his study that I hadn’t seen before. Mr. Smith also showed remarkable problem solving ability.
Our instrumentation system began having problems midway through his experiment. Mr. Smith
spent a full weekend troubleshooting the system. He discovered there was a loose wire in the
A/D connection box.
Mr. Smith is going to be first author on a manuscript that he is preparing for publication. He
followed through on his promise to write the manuscript during his M2 year. Moreover, he
handled the manuscript revisions and saw the manuscript through to publication. This illustrates
his high level of motivation.
Wow. Sounds like Mr. Smith is a boss, right? Well, you want that to be you. And it will be—
challenge #2 is all about optimizing the most important relationship in your internship.
Conclusion
Writing this “Ideal” letter of recommendation will put you in the right mindset for how to handle
your internship. It serves as a reminder that the way you interact with others, go about your
work, and the lasting impression your left on the organization. The above letter unequivocally
leaves the impression that the individual added tremendous personal and professional value to
the organization.
Challenge
Within the first two weeks of meeting your boss and getting a feel for the internship, write the
ideal letter of recommendation that you would hope your boss writes 12 weeks from now.
Review it once a week--it should serve as a reminder of both how you should carry yourself and
how fortunate you may be if your manager sees your true potential.
Challenge #3
The Weekly Updates
Problem
For most internships, especially the ones where you evaluated for a return offer, your
boss/manager is given an evaluation form where he or her has to report on your project
accomplishments, company cultural fit, and whether they recommend you for future involvement
with the firm. You want to make their evaluation as easy as possible. Let me say that again, you
want to make sure they have a very clear understanding of what you have accomplished
throughout your internship.
Introduction
This third piece of advice is the most straightforward: pick a day every week, preferably a
Friday, to write an email to your boss briefly summarizing what you’ve accomplished, learned,
and perhaps a question or two you have. This serves two purposes: the first to let your boss
know what the hell you’ve been up to (which will help him evaluate and know what you’ve
accomplished) and the second is make you pragmatic and driven to have weekly results from
your work. It shows him that you’re both conscious about your development and taking
leadership in your own professional development. These are not only qualities of a new hire, but
of future management.
How to use it:
Week 1 (5/15-5/22)
● Things Accomplished
○ #1
○ #2
○ #3
● What I Learned
○ #1
○ #2
● Goals for next week
○ #1
○ #2
● Questions
○ #1
○ #2
Examples ( One of mine from Microsoft)
Week 1 (5/15-5/22)
● Things Accomplished
○ #1: Met with the finance team to determine the proper financial model to
analyze incremental $ requests from subsidiaries.
○ #2: Met with the Xbox team to learn about potential strategies for better
improving subsidiary relationships.
○ #3: Met with the research team to learn more about our customer’s
demographics
● What I Learned
○ #1: In order to get things done at Microsoft, it’s important to build
relationships with other divisions.
○ #2: Framework for developing marketing strategies in Asia
● Goals for next week
○ #1: Begin building the financial model for the incremental $ request
○ #2: Meet with the Skype team to learn about best practices for reaching
college aged students
● Questions
○ #1: Can you connect me with someone from Skype?
○ #2: How should I approach the financial model? Do we have anything I
can work from?
Your boss will be impressed. Damn Impressed. This is one of the strongest ways to make a
lasting first impression, and you will undoubtedly stand out from the pack of interns.
Conclusion
Your boss is going to love this. It allows him to see what you have accomplished in the week,
what you have learned, your goals for the following week, and what questions you may have. By
taking the initiative to do this, he or she is going to realize that you are a proactive individual, a
goal-setter, and reflective. These are all qualities that hiring managers look for, and it will very
quickly separate you from the pack. In addition, when your evaluations are being done, most of
the time your boss will reference these weekly updates and note your progress.
Challenge
Pick a day of the week to send your boss your weekly update. Use the template above to help
you, and make sure to keep it concise.