LoR conundrum

[KingGeedorah]

So this isn't about grad school, but I am not sure where else to turn for advice on this.

 

I am taking a year off before graduate school, so in the next year I have been working on a short term appointment at a national lab. After presenting my research, giving them my CV, etc. they asked for letters of recommendation from my research advisers (I had two during my undergraduate). One of them sent a LoR without an issue. The other I knew would be a bad idea to ask, as they had previously mentioned to me that they were glad I hadn't asked them for one yet, but the group I am corresponding with at the national lab specifically asked for LoR from my research advisers so I felt compelled to ask the second adviser anyway. After three weeks and a follow up email after two weeks, I emailed the group I am trying to work with and mentioned I have another recommender who I can have send a letter. They said to have my other recommender send a letter but also asked if there was a phone number where they could reach the research adviser who has not yet sent a letter. Then within hours of their response I finally got a response from the research adviser. In so many words they basically told me they would only want to write the letter if it was a glowing recommendation. I will obviously ask the other recommender to send a letter but what do I do about the letter from the research adviser now? Do I tell the group that they do not want to write a letter? Do I tell the adviser to write it anyway? Should I mention to the adviser that the group specifically asked for LoR from my research advisers? Should I just start looking for another job haha? Any advice is appreciated. If I need to clarify or add any info just let me know.    

[TakeruK]

Wow this seems like a tough issue. Just to clarify: You are starting a new, temporary position which insists on getting a LOR from every single former research advisor. However, one of them does not want to write you a LOR and it sounds like they would not write you a positive glowing LOR. 

 

In my opinion, I think it is best to be upfront and honest with the national lab / new employer. I would tell them that you do not keep in much contact with one of your undergraduate research groups and after inquiring about a LOR, the prof said that they do not want to write a letter. Then, I would ask the national lab / new employer if they would waive the letter requirement from this advisor. 

 

You should not need to compell/insist on your old prof giving you a letter unless you feel there was no other way. So, I would first check with the national lab to make sure they really really want the letter. If they insist on the letter or else they won't hire you, then perhaps you could decide if you want to let your advisor know about the situation. 

 

Unless it's some weird bureaucratic thing, I would doubt the national lab needs the LOR from your advisor to make a hiring decision, especially since the advisor could just send a 1 sentence letter saying "This student did work in my lab." or whatever. I think the national lab would already have enough information to make a decision knowing that your adivsor didn't want to write the letter. That is, either this will be a red flag for them, or they won't care, and there's no point for you to further pressure your previous advisor unless they absolutely demand it.

[bsharpe269]

I think would be honest with the research advisor and say that the new job is insisting on getting letters from your old research advisors. I would add that you understand that they may only be able to write a generic letter but since the job is requiring the letter from each research advisor that you hands are a bit tied.

[KingGeedorah]

Thanks for the reply to both of you. These two responses are basically the two options I have been weighing and I don't know which route to go.

 

Cup 'o Joe, yes you are correct. The request I got from the group at the NL was perhaps not as insistent on getting LoR from my research advisers as you make it sound, but they explicitly asked for LoR from my research advisers, and I did not want to raise any red flags by telling them that I did not want to ask most recent adviser, especially because I gave a presentation of my research with this adviser to their group, and that research is more relevant to what they do. Yesterday I tried steering them towards getting LoR from my other recommenders, and while they said one of them would be good to have sent, they then asked if there was a phone number to reach the other adviser. This seems like they are fairly insistent on getting a LoR from this adviser. I probably should have asked if the LoR must be from my research advisers in the first place.

 

I guess my decision comes down to, would it raise a bigger red flag to have a generic LoR from my former adviser, or to tell the new group I am applying for that my former adviser does not want to write a LoR for me?

[peachypie]

I think the bigger red flag would be that your former advisor does not want to write a LOR for you rather than a generic letter.  I mean in this case I think something is going to be better than nothing.  Sometimes they just need a letter, other times they are looking for something good, but if they are working with you this much to get a letter and giving this amount of time they are obviously interested.  If they weren't they would just hire the next applicant.  So try to get a generic letter if you can or at a minimum ask if you can provide a phone number so they may contact them, if not then I'd explain it to the lab you are applying to that you are unable to get a LOR from your former advisor and see what happens from there.