How To Read a Reference Letter

As you build your empire you will be increasing your headcount. You need to get quality headcount in order to maximize the marginal added value to your career. Here are some handy hints on how to interpret reference letters for candidates you may consider:

Reference letter language	Actual Meaning
I have known the candidate since…	I owe the candidate’s supervisor a favour, and so am writing this based on the information in the SMS message sent by the supervisor
The candidate is well known in the field.	I rejected one his papers from a conference
The candidate is a real team player	He relies on others to do the work
The candidate has made significant individual contributions	Nobody else in team will work with him
He is “good”	I can not think of anything else to say; he has done nothing.
He has a deep knowledge…	He is incredibly narrow and knows nothing outside of his field
Amongst the best 25% of students I have ever supervised	I have had crappy students
Has written a surprising number of papers	Surprising because each had very little to say