{"id":"wri-mgr-grad-school-reference","audience":"managers","category":"applications","technique":"grounding","title":"Write a grad school reference that's specific and accurate","free":false,"task":"A former employee asked you for a reference paragraph for her MBA application. Write one paragraph under 120 words, addressed to the Whitfield School of Business by name, with two specific examples that each include a number from your notes, and describe her role accurately, naming her co-lead, even where her own request overstates it. Skip superlatives like 'best employee I've ever had', 'exceptional' and 'rockstar', and end with the school's required contact line: 'Contact: Greg Tamura, gtamura@pellham.example'. Write a prompt that gets that paragraph.","materialLabel":"Her request and your notes (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"EMAIL from Nadia Farouk (former Ops Analyst on my team, 2022-2025):\nHi! I'm applying to the Whitfield School of Business MBA. Could you write a short reference paragraph? It would be great if you could mention that I led the warehouse system migration and that I managed the vendor scorecard project. Thank you so much!\n\nMY NOTES (Greg Tamura, Operations Director, Pellham Distribution)\n- Warehouse system migration (2024): Nadia co-led it with Ben Ortiz. She owned the data cleanup and training; Ben owned vendor coordination. Cutover went live 2 weeks early. She trained 46 warehouse staff in 3 weeks.\n- Vendor scorecard: Nadia built the scorecard spreadsheet herself. It cut late shipments from 14% to 6% over two quarters. She didn't manage it as a project (no team), she built and ran it.\n- She presented the scorecard results to our VP twice. Clear and calm under tough questions.\n- She was sometimes slow to ask for help early on; much better by year 2.\n- I'd hire her back in a heartbeat.","rules":[{"type":"maxWords","max":120}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for \"under 120 words\" and it often lands well over.","fix":"Cap each part: \"5 sentences, each under 20 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]},{"title":"Copying her overstatement","why":"The AI repeats \"she led the migration\" from her email, which isn't accurate.","fix":"Say it: \"She co-led the migration with Ben Ortiz.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Praise without proof","why":"AI references say \"hardworking and detail-oriented\" with no numbers behind it.","fix":"Add: \"Name the Whitfield School of Business. Give two examples with numbers: 46 staff trained, late shipments 14% to 6%.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Gushing or oversharing","why":"The AI reaches for \"exceptional\" and may mention her early weakness to sound balanced.","fix":"Add: \"No superlatives like 'exceptional'. No weaknesses. End with my contact line.\"","checks":["r2"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Sets a word limit","patterns":["\\d+\\s*words","word (limit|count)"]},{"label":"Keeps her role accurate","patterns":["co.?led","ben","accurate"]},{"label":"Asks for numbers","patterns":["46","14%","numbers","specific examples"]},{"label":"Bans superlatives","patterns":["superlative","exceptional","rockstar","best employee"]},{"label":"Keeps it to the facts given","patterns":["only (the )?(facts|info|details)","don'?t (invent|add|make up)","nothing (else|outside)","from (the|my) (notes|material|email|thread)"]}],"hint":"A strong reference is specific and true. Tell the AI exactly what she did, which numbers to use and which words to avoid.","rubricLabels":["Describes the warehouse migration accurately as co-led with Ben Ortiz (named), not as Nadia leading it alone","Names the Whitfield School of Business, and includes two specific examples with numbers from the notes (such as training 46 staff in 3 weeks, the go-live 2 weeks early, or late shipments falling from 14% to 6%)","Uses none of these: 'best employee I've ever had', 'exceptional', 'rockstar', mentions no weakness (being slow to ask for help), and ends with the line 'Contact: Greg Tamura, gtamura@pellham.example'"]}