The Letter

This is the time of the year when students apply for graduate school. A letter of recommendation can help the process. My director pulls a lot of weight at her old college where she is an adjunct professor although she has not actually taught in years. She had to write three letters this semester for her three research assistants. One was a solid letter, one was a bit exaggerated and the other she had the student write herself. She liked the idea of a self written recommendation so much that she decided to incorporate it into the hiring process. A candidate for employment was asked to write a recommendation letter for herself and email it to the doctor and then the decision to hire would be made. The letter will be scrutinized to see the self esteem level and writing skills. People are usually humble when they write about themselves and do not want to look to conceited. I have no idea what this exercise is accomplishing. If I were the new employee, I would write, "I am great. Hire me. If you do not, you are a moron".