Write Your Own Recommendation

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Dane Allred

Write Your Own Recommendation

Graduating from college is exciting, but the worst thing is you now have to find a job. You can’t sign up for another fencing class, because it’s time to get out in the real world. I’m a drama teacher, so that kind of specialization does limit your potential employers. Drama teacher tend to keep their jobs a long time, and when I graduated there were no jobs available in the state.

I called about 300 places in California to see if there were any jobs, and found three or four potential interviews. But I needed something to make me stand out, so the people interviewing me would have something to remember.

Then I recalled my step-father had an uncle who was the acting president of Westminster College. They were looking for a replacement, and he really had no experience in running a college, but he had great business connections. He was retired from other leadership positions, and he was doing a great job for them. If I could only get a recommendation letter from the acting president of another educational institution; that would really be a feather in my cap.

I had already interviewed this man for a radio class I had taken earlier in college, so I really didn’t think this was going to be a problem. I brashly walked into the administration building without an appointment and asked to see the acting president. The secretary paged him, and I was let right in.

This was way easier than I ever thought it would be. So I went right into my pitch. I was graduating and I was looking for a recommendation. I paused.

This guy was a master. He had negotiated multi-million dollar contracts, led important organizations, even had his life threatened a time or two. He didn’t get where he was by writing recommendations for step-relations who were about to graduate from college. I was sure he say he didn’t have the time.

He turned and looked at me and simply said, “Sure.” Then he smiled a bit a continued. “You write it, and I’ll sign it.” He gave a few sheet of letterhead with Westminster College and the official sounding title of “Acting President”.

I was dumbfounded. I was to write my own recommendation?

He just sat silently and smiled at me.

I mumbled a “thank you” and said I would be back in a couple of days.

I don’t know if you have ever been asked to write a recommendation for yourself, but it is much more difficult than it sounds. I’ve already mentioned this is a guy who had been around the block a few times, and if I try to pad my resume, he’ll know it. I also have the delightful opportunity to try to describe what I feel are my strengths without sounding too egotistical. I am responsible for making sure it sounds like he wrote it, when in fact I really wrote it myself. I have to be good enough at this that no one who reads it will think I wrote it myself and had him sign it.

I struggled and struggled to find the right wording for sentences, descriptions, and tried not to slather on the praise too much. I worked harder on this single page of about three paragraphs than I had ever worked on any writing assignment in college.

I worked even harder on this than the paper I wrote for one of the few English classes I took. The sad part about that 20 page paper is it was the entire basis for the grade in the class. I went to every class, read the books, commented in class; I thought I was the best student in the class. Little did I know I was writing the paper completely wrong, and got an F in the class. It was a great surprise to me when I read the comments of the teacher on my 20 page labor of love. He wrote “I have no idea what you are trying to say in this paper.” There was a large “F” on the front page, too, but I don’t remember if it was a big red “F”. I just remember it was “F”. It’s okay; I didn’t need it for credit.

I was actually repeating it since I had signed up for the same class earlier with my wife. She had prudently dropped the class, while I had lagged behind until the drop deadline had passed. I received an “F” that time, too. So the second “F” wasn’t such a big deal. But on my transcript there is an “F” crossed out and replaced with another “F”.

I didn’t put that in the recommendation letter.

The acting president signed it and never even read it.


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