Do professional recommendations include prof. societies?

[wendywalk]

I'm narrowing down my recommender choices. Which would be stronger:
1. Two former supervisors from the same place of employment or
2. One of those former supervisors, plus the chair of a committee of a well-respected professional society (NYSSA)? He tapped me to serve as vice chair when he assumed the committee chair position a bit over a year ago. We plan professional development programs together, and attend outside industry events where we represent our professional society and build relationships with other organizations. Does that count as "professional"?

Plusses to idea #2: The committee is in the subindustry that I'd like to transition into, and will be my focus in my MBA program - that committee work shows my advance planning for the career shift. The former supervisors are in a different industry from where I am now (and want to go).
Drawbacks to idea #2: Committee chair & I as vice chair are in contact only about once a week on average, usually by phone or email - so it's not like he has worked with me on a day-to-day basis.

All will give great recommendations, but which combo gives my application more oomph?

Thanks!

[Graham]

Dear WendyWalk,

Thanks for your post!

You raise a great question here about selecting your recommenders. My thoughts are as follows:

1) The general rule of thumb when selecting recommenders is that you choose people who know you well, have seen your work and are senior to you. This means that they've supervised you and have witnessed your team and/or leadership skills, etc. For most applicants, this means choosing direct supervisors from their place of work (or former places of work).

2) While the criteria I've stated above should be the guiding factor in making your selection, it may very well be the case that both your supervisors from work AND the gentleman from the NYSSA could fit the bill. If this is the case, you then need to simply determine whether or not you feel that the two work supervisors would each provide a unique view on your work (with different anecdotes, etc) or whether there might be overlap. If the latter is the case, you may want to turn to the NYSSA recommender to round out your profile.

3) Many applicants use recommenders from their outside activities/community service. They do this to showcase another element of their candidacy - or in somecases to foreshadow their goals, etc. This can be a fine option, as long as the recommenders know you well and have supervised you.

In your case, it sounds like the NYSSA person could work, but to be honest, I'd really need to know a lot more about your background to make that call (for example, you said 'former' supervisors - do you not have a current supervisor writing for you?). I'd also need a lot more information on the background of each recommender in question (education, experience writing recs, experience working with MBA applicants and graduates, etc).

For more advice on recommendations, see the following links:

https://blog.clearadmit.com/2008/06/admi ... menders-2/

https://blog.clearadmit.com/2008/10/admi ... ilemmas-2/

Feel free to send along your resume ([email protected]) for a free chat with a Clear Admit counselor if you have further questions.

Best of luck,

Graham