Community/Service Refereet Criteria - needing clarification

[Guest chriscara]

Hello,

 

Congrats to all with the recent interview invites, and best wishes for next year to the others -- perseverence.

 

This year is my first (after many app. cycles) interview!

 

As more than several years have passed since my organized volunteering, I am not really able to ask someone from them to be a reference for me for the Community/Service referee.

 

So, based on the vague:

 

"Community/Service referees may be supervisors, managers, peers, or others in your community that you

have worked with"

 

from the guide, are work managers acceptable? And has anyone been successful with a work-based referee?

 

Super thanks!

 

All the best,

 

Chris

[Guest atworknow]

I think that community/service refers to service to a society such as volunteering. E.g. If you are "WORKING" for a charity organization, and get paid, yes, then you can ask your manager to write you a ref letter.

 

However, if you are working say in a research lab or in a restaurant, or a private company, then your manager won't be qualified for a community service referee.

[Guest paulistadf]

I think a manager from a private company could qualify has a community/service referee. It says that they have to be "...others in your community that you have worked with." Doesn't really single out people who you have necessarily volunteered with.

 

If you also look at the form they have to fill out it is almost entirely based on qualities that a "work" manager would be able to judge your character on. ie. work ethic, integrity, reliability, ability to work with others, etc... I was planning on asking my manager from work to fill this one out (I work in a care home for disabled people), since she can judge me on all these characteristics and has seen me working in a field related to helping others.

[Guest kupo]

guys,

 

go read another thread here. Community service referees can be supervisors, even from academic labs. Hey I used my Co-op supervisor (working at the NRC on Campy is as academic/scientific as you can get) as my referee and I got in. I didn't do anything special, pay anyone cash monies, etc.

 

I worked directly with my supervisor for three years. So he was the best judge of my character as an employee, as a team player, and as a community person because he knew the kinds of things I did outside of work (volunteer, sports, organized sports activities, etc).

 

Kupo

[Guest atworknow]

That's interesting though. Then means anyone who knows you besides your family can be your community referree. Very interesting, because anyone who lives and works in the community can be a referee? Who isn't living in the community?

 

I was told by the person at the feedback session 2 yrs ago that the community referee needs to be someone who serves the community such as a volunteer supervisor. Managers don't count, that's what she said.

 

Last yr, I changed my community referee to my "volunteer supervisor" and I got in. That's the only thing I changed besides the interview. I have a feeling that this is an important change. Who knows?

 

Kupo, the referee you mention seems like a personal referee to me. A personal referee can comment on those things you mention as well. So why do they bother separate the community referee / personal referee?

 

To paulistadf: I feel that you can use your manager as a referee because you are working for disabled people anyway. I think this falls into community category.

 

To the original poster: Go ahead and use your manager at work as community service referee then and see what happens. It may work for some people but i am sure not for everyone.

[Guest kupo]

well i guess with requesting three different referees, admissions is encouraging the applicant to choose referees that can comment on different things, such that you dont have three academic referees.

 

My academic referee was my thesis supervisor, but she also was my professor in a number of classes, so in that sense, she saw me in a class setting, my marks, and my work ethic.

 

My co-op supervisor, while knowing me in a scientific background, had a much better sense of my role as a team player, someone who contributes as an employee. It's funny that my line of work is science, but I emphasized to my boss my character in a "workplace" setting should be a focus of the letter. He knows who I volunteered for and why too, because I talked to him about it. It may sound like a personal referee to you, but my actual personal referee was quite different.

 

My personal referee was my old elementary teacher. However, she also taught me in other grades, saw me thru my acceleration from Grade 6 to Grade 8, and has kept in touch with me and my mother (my mother and her worked together for over 30 years). Sound like a family friend, yes she was. But she is a very objective person. There is no better non-family person better than to choose a referee that has known me since birth, has seen me (first hand) academically and personally develop, and has kept tract of my social development right up through to University. I chose her because of that, so that admissions can really see where I am coming from.

 

And that was the whole theme of my application - to fully paint a picture in detail about who I am, and how my past has influenced the decisions I have made.

 

Kupo

[Guest pharmgurl]

So amid all this confusion, I decided to email the Admissions folks....I hope this clears it up for you guys!

 

With regards to the Community/Service referee, they do not have to be someone that you volunteered with. They can be a supervisor (not academic), a manager, a peer, or simply someone else in your community that you have worked with. This could be in a charity setting, a volunteer setting, in a paid environment that relates to the community, or in a club or society of which you are a member. They should know you well enough to be able to answer all of the questions on the reference form.

[Guest chriscara]

Thanks for doing the sensible thing and giving them an email!

 

As the thred originator, I find that it almost clears it up, however, the "in a paid environment that relates to the community" seems to be still a bit vague. One could argue that everything relates to the community from working at McDonalds to working as a lab tech at a biotech company.

 

Did the email from them exlude any types of employment?

[Guest pharmgurl]

I agree that the "in a paid environment that relates to the community" is super-vague and can apply to practically any job, but it worked to my advantage so I decided not to push the subject any further. As for the exact content of the email response, I copied and pasted the entire thing!!

 

Pharmgurl