Faint Praise, Fake Praise, and Pasted Phrases
One of the great parts of my job is that I get some requests for letters of recommendation. I love doing this, providing some measure of support for my students even after they leave my classroom.
Once upon a time, I was on the other side of this, on the asking end of this exchange. This was long ago, when I was applying to graduate school.
Everything worked out fine, don’t you worry about me. Almost everybody took good care of me.
Still, I was struck by three extreme responses I received.
- Faint Praise
One professor said “no” to me. Surprised, I asked him why. He said “I don’t even remember your grade in my class….”
Okay, I understand that. It had been a few years.
“I got a B+,” I replied.
“If that’s true, the best I could do would be to damn you with faint praise.”
“If”? What do you mean, “if”?
2. Fake Praise
Another professor said yes, and wrote the most lavish, gushing, overly positive letter I could possibly imagine. I barely recognized the person he was writing about. It was hard to believe that I was among the top one half of one percent of all the students he had ever taught in 30 years.
3. Pasted Phrases
The third letter came from the VP of Marketing for the company I was working for. I didn’t report to him but worked frequently with his department. His asked me to put some notes together for him to review. By “review,” he actually meant copy and paste my notes verbatim on his letterhead and add his signature.
Actually, that’s a pretty effective approach.
Referrals are more important than ever these days. Don’t be afraid to ask. Offer to put some notes together for the writer for reference (or to simply cut and paste… so make it good!). And when you can, offer to write one for them in return, perhaps on LinkedIn.
What do you think?
#LettersThatMatter #AuthenticPraise #RealReferrals #CareerAdvice #GenuineSupport