George Gavrilita<\/p><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m George Gavrilita, and I\u2019ve had the luck to work with 6 different senior Judges from 4 different regions on recommendations for the L3 checklist. Today I\u2019ll try to explain why starting early with recommendations is vital for your L3 process, and give you some tips on what kind of mentors you\u2019re actually looking for, and what you can do to make the interactions as fruitful as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou may not begin requesting recommendations until your self-review is written and approved by the Verification Committee.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n This means:<\/span><\/p>\n However, none of that stops you from:<\/span><\/p>\n So, if you haven’t before, go ahead and do both of these things right away. Gauging already these first reactions can be very important. People might be enthusiastic about it, because they think you have potential, the region needs more leadership etc. Otherwise, they might tell you that they haven’t seen enough involvement from you in the community, or that they’ve heard you’re not very diplomatic. Either way you have a starting point. Knowledge is power!<\/span><\/p>\n Keep in mind that you are looking for somebody who could mentor you to the point of being a L3 Candidate capable of passing a panel. You are not necessarily aiming for a recommender, but for people who can make you better in a variety of skills. You are not pursuing recommendations, but improvement. I’ve delayed my L3 by 3 years for making this mistake. <\/span><\/p>\n If you pursue improvement, that stays with you even if you have to interrupt your relationship with a specific mentor. If on the other hand, it was just for the recommendation, when the two of you need to take a break, you\u2019re left empty-handed.<\/span><\/p>\n Additionally, once you\u2019re truly skilled, then a recommender might come your way even without you actively searching for it, in the same way talent scouts might do in music or sports – everybody wants to be the one who helped create a champion. If you believe you\u2019re a champion and still nobody notices, nobody stops you from asking the talent scouts directly.<\/span><\/p>\n First name that comes to mind is your RC. However, since all L3 candidates in your region might think the same, the RC might not have a lot of time to work with you. Only one way to find out: go out there and ask, and share a plan (more on that below).<\/span><\/p>\n What other options are there for Mentors? The RC might be busy, but could suggest some names, based on geographical proximity, or likelihood of judging the same events together. <\/span><\/p>\n If that fails, you can do what I did: open Judge Apps, click Judges, and then go through the alphabetical list of all L3s. Mark down all the people you’ve worked with before, or you had outside of tournament interactions on projects or forums, or you heard good things about, or you notice will be on staff at the next Magic Fest you’re going to etc.<\/span><\/p>\n This is still a brainstorming part of the process, so do value quantity over quality. You might realize you don’t have such a meaningful connection as you thought with some L3s after all, some of the people you’ll ask will be in the middle of a very busy semester of their lives, and others might get a new job or move away and not make it anymore to the Magic Fests you planned for together midway through your L3 process. The L3 checklist is not life-proof, on the contrary, it\u2019s a way to see how you can deal with life.<\/span><\/p>\n That’s why it’s important to have a clear plan in mind before you start the interaction, and keep the momentum. You\u2019re rewarded with the fact that recommendations are one of the few items on the checklist that do not expire. When you will gaze at the horizon from the top of a green hill in I-Have-My-Recs-Land, the rest of the items will really seem easy to deal with. You cannot help progressing also on other stuff along the way, so don’t worry about dedicating all your energies to this, now.<\/span><\/p>\n And if you ever get three or four people that want to help you, that’s a good problem to have, and I\u2019m not even sure it counts as one. Don\u2019t forget: \u201cA recommendation may be co-authored\u201d, and I can attest that Joint Recs are as underused as useful. Simply put, L3 Alba might not collect enough data on 7 of your qualities, but she might have 6, and L3 Bart might have noticed your Teamwork and Diplomacy in an online project. Have Alba talk to Bart. You might\u2019ve just added a tick on your checklist.<\/span><\/p>\n “A L3 Recommendation is a written review that covers at least 7 of the 9 Qualities of Level 3 Judges \u201c<\/span><\/p>\n The important part here is the \u201dreview\u201c. Often candidates complain (and I’m guilty of it too) that recommendations take too much time or never land. However, true to their nature of reviews, the recommendations are not something a L3 DOES for you, it’s something they OBSERVE and ASSESSE in you. That means the burden of DOING is on you. The vast majority of time the recommendation doesn’t arrive is because they haven’t observed enough, so they have nothing to assess. That can only mean two things, you’re either not doing enough, or you’re not showing enough.<\/span><\/p>\n A quick recap: you’re trying to give to select people relevant data over a limited amount of time. It’s more easily said than done – if you don’t have a plan. From the L3’s point of view, 90% of the work is everything that happens before, only 10% of effort necessary for writing a recommendation is actually sitting down and writing. Things that are so complicated naturally scare us, because we\u2019re not even sure where to begin, how long it would take, and so on. By following the steps described below, you’ll make it much more easier for them. If you ever done any teaching or tutoring, you know it’s more enjoyable when you don’t have to run after students. Don’t make the L3 run after you. Spoiler: they won\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n For all the work outside of tournaments (and you’ll read below, there’s a lot on that), be aware of the huge dependency issues you have for this item of the checklist. If you write your TO, and they don’t answer, you simply can’t progress. Contrast this with going through your notes and writing a review to another judge: you just need to find the time and the willpower, but it all depends on you.<\/span><\/p>\n Therefore as a rule of thumb, any activity that requires someone else’s intervention, whether Judge-related or not, has higher priority than one which depends on you only. That’s because you cannot know the other person’s availability, efficiency, or energy left to do stuff. You need to give them as much time as possible to account for that, and the earlier they know about it, the earlier they can plan for it as well. If you do your stuff first, and then on Sunday night you’re like, \u201dOh btw could you spend another two hours doing this for me, like, now?”, don’t be upset if it doesn’t happen.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>
The Requirements<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Who to Look For<\/span><\/h2>\n
How to Find Them<\/span><\/h2>\n
The Definition<\/span><\/h2>\n
Part II: The Interactions<\/span><\/h1>\n
Adapting to Your Mentor<\/span><\/h2>\n