78. Timely Episode: The Importance of Letters of Recommendation

Today I will unlock the true potential of letters of recommendation and their game-changing impact on students' lives. 

Discover how these powerful narratives, starting from 9th grade, offer a vivid portrayal of a young person's character and achievements, transcending the limitations of resumes and academic transcripts. In this special episode, I guide you through the strategic collection and utilization of these letters, ensuring that when the time comes, students are equipped with a compelling portfolio that truly makes them shine.

We will discuss:

• The importance of letters of recommendation for students in high school and college. 
• The value of creating a portfolio with letters of recommendation to showcase students' character and achievements. 
• Tips for students on how to ask for letters of recommendation.
• The importance of maintaining communication with teachers or professors throughout the process.

I'm sending out waves of appreciation to you, my cherished listeners, for allowing me to be a part of your day. Let's carry forward the wisdom gleaned from today's discussion—spread the word, hit share, or post it on your social feed. Follow me on Intagram or my favorite social media spot, LinkedIn. Here's to nurturing our connections and evolving together towards college and career readiness. 

Join us next week for another insightful encounter that will continue to redefine our path to success.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to College and Career Ready, the only podcast that helps parents equip their growing teen as they transition from high school to college and college to their career. My name is Sonia Casique. I'm a former educator, certified school counselor and career coach of Discover U. Together, we will redefine what it truly means to be college and career ready. I believe that you deserve all the tools and support necessary to open the doors to endless opportunities of success and, with our community, you don't have to do this alone, so come with me and let's get started. Welcome, my friend. Wherever you are listening to us from, thank you for being here with us today. Whether you're listening to us from the car, at work, at home, while exercising or taking a leisurely walk, I want to say thank you for being here with us today.

Speaker 1: 0:58

Today, I have a very timely episode. Today is April 30th, also known as my birthday. Yay, I'm excited to be here today on my birthday, and I want to celebrate my birthday with you with a very timely episode for you and your child. Regardless if you're a parent of a high school or college student, this episode will be for you. Whether you have a ninth grader, a 10th grader, 11th, 12th or college student. This episode is very timely, so please listen closely because I will be sharing something very important that your child should be doing today.

Speaker 1: 1:40

At Discover you College and Career Coaching, I work with high school and college students one-on-one as their career coach. If they're in high school, we're usually talking about discovering themselves, navigating high school and preparing for college, and if I'm working with college students, we're usually talking about maximizing the college experience and preparing them for their next transition from college to their future careers. But today I am going to be telling you about one specific thing that all students should be doing today, whether they're a 9th grader, 10th grader, 11th grader, 12th grader or college student. I will be talking to you about letters of recommendations. Now, if you're thinking my child is a ninth grader or a 10th grader, they don't need letters of recommendations right now. Or if you're saying, my student already got accepted to college, I don't need letters of recommendation anymore. Or if you're saying they're still not ready to graduate and are not looking for their future job yet, well, let me tell you it is essential for every single adolescent right now to be thinking about their current teachers or professors and who they would be asking a letter recommendation for.

Speaker 1: 3:02

In the past, letters of recommendation were used for applying for college or applying for a job, and usually students were not asking for these letter of recommendations until they were ready to start applying for college or applying for the job, not anytime sooner. A letter of recommendation was used not only for applying for the job or the internship, but it was also to help improve your chances for an interview or a job offer with a nicely written letter of recommendation from a former boss or someone who has known you in a professional capacity or in your education, such as your teacher or your professor. Today, a letter of recommendation is more than recommending someone. It tells a story. It tells a story of a student's character, something that cannot be put on paper or on a resume. It describes who you are, what you have done and what others think of you. It's something that speaks louder than your resume. A letter of recommendation is essential for telling someone your adolescent's story, whether they're applying for college, summer job, internship or their first job. It tells the person receiving the letter of recommendation a story of who they are and what they have accomplished. Now, if you're a parent listener, your adolescent is probably going to ask you why you need to ask for a letter of recommendation right now, and you can tell your adolescent that, even though they might not need it right now, it is something that will be very valuable in the future. I cannot stress enough the value of a letter of recommendation and again, not just one when you need it, but ones that you can keep over time that tells your future employer or your college admissions officer a story about you. It is also something that can be kept within your child's portfolio, your child's portfolio. Over the years they can keep these letters of recommendations that they can show a story of who they are and who they've been over the years.

Speaker 1: 5:15

Can you imagine having letters of recommendation from as early as ninth grade up until their college years? It tells others a story of who your child is. I still have my first letter of recommendation from 1995. Don't start counting the years that, to this day, I still have in my portfolio and that I still use, because it shows my character, of who I was when I was in high school and who I am today. Now I'm sure your child's going to ask you next what am I going to tell my teacher and my professor why do I need a letter of recommendation. You can easily encourage them to say that they're considering summer volunteer opportunities or internship opportunities and that they would love to have a letter of recommendation from them because they got to know them better and can validate their character and who they are as an individual and their academic performance as well. I can talk about creating a portfolio on another episode, but just remember that a portfolio is important because once your child gets past the application process and into an interview, they can bring their portfolio with them. That again will show a story of who they are, and I am going to guarantee that your student will stand out from the crowd if they arrive to an interview with a nicely created and organized portfolio.

Speaker 1: 6:36

I know most students right now are wrapping up their school year or their semester. This is the time to ask their teacher, their professor or even their employer if they're currently working for a letter of recommendation. Ask those professors or educators that can validate your adolescent's character, work, performance and skills. Remember, a letter of recommendation speaks louder than a grade, a GPA or rank. It tells a story. I cannot stress that enough. Even if they don't need them, ask them to request these so they can keep them for their portfolio and for future use. As much as a professor loves your child, after just a few months or years they will forget the specifics of their interaction with your child. They have lots of students to keep up with. To remember that Joey, the quiet student who sat at the back of the classroom on the first day of school, was so determined that later in the semester, even though he struggled at the beginning, he ended up coming out of his shell and outperforming his classmates. Doesn't that tell a story about Joey? If I was to go back in time and you were to ask me about a specific student that I have taught, it will be very hard for me to remember the details of our interaction and his performance in class. Just to give you an example when I was a high school teacher, I used to have an average of six to seven classes a day, with an average of 28 to 30 students per class. You identify how many students I interacted with on a yearly basis. That is a lot of students, my friends. So always remember to ask them before the year ends, because that is when your child's teacher can make the best letter of recommendation with full details of who your child is Now parents, let your adolescent do the work.

Speaker 1: 8:36

You just lead them and guide them. Please do not call or email your child's teachers asking them for a letter of recommendation. You need to teach your teenager or your adolescent how to speak up for themselves and how to communicate with their teachers or professors. Now guide them. Yes, absolutely, you can help them write the letter or guide them in how to approach their teacher, but they have to do the work. You're setting them up for success if you let them do the work, the work. You're setting them up for success if you let them do the work. This is such an essential skill that they can develop early on and that will help them not only in their college years, but when they start working within their career and profession.

Speaker 1: 9:21

A couple of reminders for your adolescent. Remind them to provide sufficient time. I know we're getting close to the end of the school year, but this is a perfect time to start asking for those letters of recommendation. Provide sufficient time for the teacher or professor to write them, because this is a time when they start getting a lot of requests. Now let me give you another tip If you remind your child to provide them some background information on their interaction with their professor within the classroom. That can also give the teacher an idea or spark some ideas on how to write their letter of recommendation for them. For example, joey can say really enjoyed your class, especially where we worked as a team. I definitely enjoyed leading our team during that project. This provides the teacher or the professor some background information and a reminder of the work that your child did during the year and it also guides them how they should write the letter of recommendation.

Speaker 1: 10:24

And don't forget to remind your adolescent to touch base and send their teacher or professor a friendly reminder when needed. If they have not received a letter of recommendation within a couple of weeks, when they reach out to their teacher and professor, they can ask them when they should follow up. This provides your adolescent a time frame of when to check back with the teacher and it kind of gives them permission from the teacher or professor themselves when they should touch base. It is your child's job to keep up with it. Please remind them not to be embarrassed. I know it's sometimes out of their comfort zone and again, I will have an episode later on talking more about portfolios and the importance of them, but for now, because this is a timely reminder, start encouraging your adolescent to request those letters of recommendations. Have your adolescent follow this simple, step-by-step guideline on how to ask and request them and how to keep up with them. It starts with asking first, giving some helpful information from their experience in the class and what they learned. Get an estimate time frame of when it would be ready or when they can follow up with their teacher or professor. And don't forget to remind your adolescent to send them a thank you letter afterwards. Bonus points if it's a handwritten card via snail mail. I promise your adolescent will stand out from the crowd with one.

Speaker 1: 11:57

And I want to wrap up this episode for today with a tip for parents, for all my parents. You can listen to this podcast while you are driving your adolescents to and from activities. It is a nice way for them to be listening to what you're listening as well, and then it won't sound like mom is telling me what to do, but Coach Sonia says so. You can also text them this episode or any episode that you'd like for them to listen to, and send them a little message saying let me know your thoughts on this. All right, my sweet friend, I hope you enjoyed this episode. Until next week, stay well, be present and enjoy the journey.

Speaker 1: 12:35

Thank you for listening in. If you enjoyed this episode, until next week, stay well, be present and enjoy the journey. Thank you for listening in. If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean so much to me. If you share it with a friend, a colleague or your own community, if you share it on social media and tag me, I'll make sure to personally thank you. My two favorite places to hang out are Instagram and LinkedIn. Check out our show notes for a direct link. I'm so thankful for each and every one of you and, as always, stay well, be present and enjoy the journey. I'll talk to you next week. Adios, thank you.