המלצות לדוגמא

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1. How long have you known the applicant and in what connection? If applicable, briefly describe the applicant's role in your organization. Please comment on the frequency and context of your interaction. (250-word limit)

Yonatan was selected to join JPMorgan 1 year ago. As Managing Partner, I am up-to-date on his position of excellence. I conferred with his direct supervisors to complete this recommendation.

Yonatan is an outstanding professional, one of the most promising associates we have taken on. His input is creative, insightful and I trust him to manage our more complex tasks. Yonatan is highly motivated and driven by an amazing passion to succeed. He embodies a perfect mix of the attributes we look for in a consultant: personal impact, great analytics and excellent problem solving skills. He couples this with his insatiable interest in serving clients with the best possible solution.

I insisted on writing this recommendation myself, as I see Yonatan as one of the promises of this firm and one of the great future business leaders of Israel. It was important for me to convey my overwhelming support of his candidacy. Upon completing my own BSc from Stanford and my PhD from Cambridge, I understand the value studying in an international setting can provide and I am very interested that this opportunity be given to Yonatan, a man who will know how best to use it.

If Yonatan stays on the same trajectory there is no doubt it my mind that Yonatan will be sponsored for an MBA by the firm, and we would very much like to see him return to the Jerusalem office and continue to develop the Israeli economy after his MBA studies.

2. In what ways has the candidate distinguished himself or herself among peers? (250-word limit)

Yonatan is one of the best business analysts we hired in recent years.

We trust Yonatan with especially complex assignments and he delivers far above expectations. He provided exceptional value for one of Israel’s largest corporations in renegotiating contracts. He set ambitious goals, managed the work and directed professionals carrying out negotiations. The financial results were nothing short of outstanding. I don’t believe anyone else would have had the same creativity in delivering solutions, the same management ability in leading people towards what seemed to be unreachable goals and the same dedication as Yonatan. I am thrilled that we gave him the responsibility.

Yonatan excels in leadership and teamwork. In his most recent project Yonatan led a client team of 3 middle-tier managers in the lean transformation of a retail chain, cutting costs by 15% and increasing revenues by 20%. Yonatan managed their work effectively; he coached them, gave feedback and allowed them to grow within their organization by letting them present the team’s finding in progress reviews. Yonatan was chosen “Head of the pilot”, effectively managing a store of 31 employees. He initiated revenue-increasing and cost-cutting pilots which brought 30% of the total savings to the client.

Yonatan’s initiative and creativity in problem solving is exceptional; recently, he researched an area in which the firm had little expertise. He discovered resources which provided enormous value to our client. After the engagement, Yonatan initiated a discussion on the information with our firm expert to develop our knowledge for future engagements.

3. Comment on the candidate’s professional weaknesses and opportunities for growth. (250-word limit)

Yonatan’s most apparent weakness is in what we call in JPMorgan “written communications”. Written communications refers to client exhibits. In these exhibits Yonatan displayed a lack of attention to the small details in his first projects. Yonatan has been given constructive feedback on the subject following his last two engagements and has shown considerable improvement, delivering clear and well structured documents.

I have always been impressed with the way that Yonatan has been proactive in communicating his development needs to the team leadership and requesting coaching and feedback. This has enabled us to pay more attention to areas in which he needed help and guide him accordingly. I imagine his initiative and take-charge attitude is also a source of his exceptional performance.

I have never seen someone as focused and as driven as Yonatan when it comes to career goals. Yonatan’s goals after his MBA are clear – he wants to be a partner at the firm, and he doesn’t hide his plans. We support him in this path unequivocally and look forward to his swift return. For Yonatan to reach this goal, it is imperative that he study for an MBA. This is his immediate opportunity for growth. Our business is to provide excellent business consultancy to our international clients. While Yonatan has proven invaluable to clients, we believe that the skills and tools derived from an MBA degree are essential to doing the top-level job we demand.

4. (Only for applicants required to take the TOEFL or IELTS): In what context have you been able to assess the candidate's written and spoken English? (250-word limit)

A great portion of Yonatan’s work is conducted in English. He is required to submit his reports and documents in English. Similarly, as JPMorgan is an international organization, all our training and communication with other teams are conducted in English.

Yonatan was selected to work on a project in Sydney. He was stationed in Australia for over a month and interacted solely in English for that time. Colleagues reported that his English communication was flawless. All communication with the team, the client and the many experts he was required to interview for the project was in English.

5. The Stanford Graduate School of Business is committed to developing outstanding leaders who can inspire trust and confidence in others. Please comment on the applicant's behavior (e.g., respect for others, honesty, integrity, accountability for personal behavior) within your organization and in the community. (250-word limit)

Yonatan has the crucial ability to admit his shortcomings. In a meeting with the CEO of one of the largest corporations in Israel, Yonatan was questioned by the CEO as to the reliability of his data. Yonatan had the integrity to admit that he didn’t know the correct answer and would check his data again, returning with clearer and more verified answers.

Yonatan is a "people person” – and this is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable things about him. He creates a team atmosphere that at once allows for outstanding output, while maintaining the most excellent relations with the people working with him and for him. During a recent project, Yonatan managed an implementation pilot in a retail store; everyone loved working with him. Similarly, it was a unique experience to walk with Yonatan through another of our client’s office corridors. He stopped every two steps as he literally knew almost every single employee at the client by name.

Yonatan is a great team player and peers have expressed interest in working with him in future. Yonatan ensures everybody is happy; he brings coffee in the morning, buys goodies for the team and organizes team events. On a recent project, Yonatan finished his work for the night but noticed that his peers were still working. He asked them to hand over some work, so that the entire team could go home earlier. Many colleagues will call him to for advice on how to solve tough problems.

1. What is your relationship to and how long have you known the applicant? Is this person still employed by your organization? (Yes/No) If "No," when did he/she depart? (e.g., August 1999)

Yonatan and I worked together for 2.5 years. I am the Chief Engineer of the Main Control Center, and a Supervisor of the Public Relations Affairs of the Nanotechnology Department. It was part of my position to supervise Yonatan while he was directing Public Relations of the Student Council. Yonatan’s job involved recruiting high level managers and CEOs from the hi-tech industry to come and lecture at Ben Gurion University. I advised him on establishing relationships with the managers from each company and advised him which to address. Yonatan was given a very free hand in this work because I counted on him. Yonatan held this position until his graduation three years ago. Since then we speak from time to time and he always comes to visit me when he’s on campus. 

2 .Provide a short list of adjectives which describe the applicant's strengths.

Managerial, Great negotiation skills, Tremendous sense of initiative, highly organized, great team-player and able to handle a complex process from above, delegating when necessary and always keeping his finger on the pulse of things.

3. How does the applicant's performance compare with that of his or her peers?

Yonatan took over the job of directing public affairs from a young woman who was the Vice President of Student Council, actually. The job under this other woman’s direction was rather simple and straightforward, and no one thought that anything more could be done with it. She was known as an excellent leader and everyone liked her, and so when Yonatan came to the position, no one expected him to be able to fill his predecessor's shoes. Yonatan amazed us all. He not only took up the job but he changed it and upgraded it. He created relations with more companies, organized more recruiting events and initiated and implemented things the other student hadn’t done.

After Yonatan left, we needed 3 people working simultaneously to replace him – that’s how much he put into making this position the best he could. I was disappointed with each and every one of the students that replaced him – none were able to match his efforts or motivation, nor bring in the quality of performance Yonatan did. Since he left, the standards have slipped and it is clear to see how much of the success of the office was on account of Yonatan.

4. How has the applicant grown during his/her employment with you? Please comment on the applicant's maturity.

Yonatan had the opportunity to meet many managers and industry people in the course of his position. He had to get used to speaking a whole new ‘language’ – new terms and a new working style in dealing with high level executives. Sometimes it was only Yonatan meeting with a manager of hundreds and his staff to discuss technology. Yonatan held up his end in these meetings. I received very positive feedback from the managers about him, and as time went by I felt more and more confident to just leave him to do the job. Seeing the way Yonatan grew into managing this project, which was really his baby, was very rewarding. He received great leadership and management experience and also learned a great deal about the industry and relations between companies.

In regards to maturity, Yonatan came and took this job as seriously as anything else. He knew it was the face of the department’s faculty and he took pride not only in his own work, but in being representative of the Nanotechnology department. I was again and again impressed with how someone so young was so able to take this up, and make it such a success, alongside a full course load and a job at Motorola Semiconductors. It was very difficult to coordinate between everyone here – the secretary, Ben Gurion Student Council, the managers coming in and all the timings and technology involved, but he did it well. Yonatan did all the coordination and told everyone what to do regarding the publicizing of the events and the organization of the lecture, and he did it with professionalism, care and a great attention to detail.

5. Comment on the applicant's ability to work with others, including superiors, peers and subordinates. If the tables were reversed, would you enjoy working for the applicant?

Yonatan worked under me and another professor who was in charge of the academic staff. We both enjoyed working with Yonatan – he’s pleasant and respectful and has a warm and friendly manner. As said, we also heard many good compliments about him from the managers who came to lecture from all the companies. They all said how the process of coordination went so smoothly.

Yonatan had no peers in this position, so I cannot comment on that. He did have subordinates, however. Yonatan gave instructions to a number of staff members – all of them working on a volunteer basis. Yonatan needed to inspire them to take the projects as seriously as he, and to encourage them to commit their best efforts to the project. He patiently explained to all of them the relations with the industry, and how important it was to establish these programs and have them succeed. He inspired them with visions of how the students could be enriched with lectures from different fields and how much they could gain from strong relations with the hi-tech industry. By the time he was done people were enthusiastic and excited to follow him.

6. In what ways could the applicant improve professionally? How does he/she accept constructive criticism?

In the beginning, Yonatan wasn’t used to working with people in the industry. The terms are different and all the manner of working was different in style to anything he’d ever met. Sometimes he didn’t do all the things he needed to do in the coordination process, but this developed over time. There were mistakes in judgment, such as sometimes bringing over a number of lecturers from the same field, rather than bringing more diversity. Again, this is something that improved over time and with the experience. Sometimes fewer people came to events than were expected, and it turned out to be that the event was just before an important exam so everyone was home studying. Each time a mistake like this happened, Yonatan would review it and make adjustment for next time. Whenever we gave Yonatan pointers he immediately adapted his way of going on. He was always willing to listen, and actually welcomed whatever feedbacks we had, to help him to improve and do a better job.

7. How well has the applicant made use of available opportunities? Consider his or her initiative, curiosity and motivation.

Yonatan knew that the engineering faculty at Ben Gurion University, especially the Nanotechnology department, was well known and respected in the industry. He used this to attract senior managers as much as possible from different companies. He would bring in CEOs, General Managers and other senior officers, winning their participation by presenting his proposal as if it was in their interest to come, rather than ours. Yonatan really developed this angle, showing them how they had a chance to present what their company does to a roomful of bright new students. He identified that he had a great product to sell these managers, and he used that to help everyone succeed.

When Yonatan came into the job, there were only 2 lecturers per semester and no recruiting events to hold. Recruitment events were organized by external bodies from the dept. Yonatan collaborated with these external bodies to combine these events with the lectures and the open forums he was organizing. These all-day happenings raised the level of excitement throughout the department. He built them to be even more exciting by inviting students from other departments – computer science, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, etc. Yonatan never missed an opportunity to bring the different departments together, and this had a strong impact on the entire faculty.

Yonatan wasn’t getting paid for this job but you would never have known it. He came at this job with all the enthusiasm and motivation as if he were pulling in a huge salary for it. He was proud of his work, and was motivated to do a great job just for that and because he believed that what he was doing was important and could have great beneficial effect on others.

Sometimes Yonatan saw that other departments – such as physics - from time to time organized lectures. He began to develop a relationship with them so they could organize together lectures that related to both fields. Once he collaborated with the public relations person from the physics department to bring a guest lecturer who spoke on physics and its relationship to electric engineering. It was a great success, with students from both faculties invited. They did all the organization together, and their teamwork was evident in the smooth running of the event.

8. Comment on your observations of the applicant's ethical behavior.

Once Yonatan didn’t have much time to publicize a lecture, and he forgot to put the flyers on the student board. It caused low turnout and I was very disappointed. When I asked him what happened he told me right away that he thought it was because of his mistake. Yonatan never tries to put the blame off on anything or anyone else. As well, at Motorola, a person from their public affairs department told Yonatan they wanted to initiate a program for excellent students. They consulted with him and asked what he thought the prize should be, and asked for other recommendations about it, etc. They asked him to speak to no one about it, and Yonatan never mentioned it until the prize had been established and it was okay to speak about it.

9. What do you think motivates the candidate's application to the MBA program at the Kellogg School of Management? Do you feel the applicant is realistic in his/her professional ambitions?

No question, Yonatan is completely realistic in his goals. He’s looking for the next step up in his career, and the MBA is a natural progression from where he is now. Yonatan and I have spoken a bit about his plans and why in particular he is interested in Kellogg, and with what little I know about your program, it sounds to me like a great fit. I know as well that his wife is applying to Northwestern Medical School, and they are hoping to both go to Chicago to study together.

10. Are there any other matters which you feel we should know about the applicant?

Yonatan’s period in this position was truly unique. These were 3.5 years in which the faculty really shined while he was there. No one was able to fill his shoes – the program has really fallen down since he left. Many students used to ask Yonatan why he would spend so much time doing this job when he wasn’t getting paid, and from his response, they would learn how important it is to volunteer in the Student Council and other opportunities provided to be involved in school activities. These students saw someone willing to invest time and energy because of what he believed, and it affected many students and caused them to reevaluate their own priorities and values.  At the end of his time here, I thanked him publicly at the last lecture in front of all the students and the staff, for all his hard work.

כדי להתניע את תהליך הקבלה שלך, מלא את הטופס לבקשת פרטים, אשר יאפשר לך לקבל תמיכה בתהליך.