1. Reference
Jessica Lewin
Personality: Jess settled in to a new job in a new country with amazing ease and professionalism. She
quickly became a valued member of the BCM team. Always enthusiastic and eager to learn new
processes and skills.
Relationship with colleagues: Jess’ enthusiasm and happy nature made it easy for her to settle in and
make good friends at BCM. She was professional and could be demanding when it was required but
treated everyone with whom she worked with respect. That she is sorely missed is a reflection of these
relationships.
Relationship with Creative people: Jess handled client feedback to creatives with good humour and
professionalism. She worked with the creatives as part of the BCM team rather than being simply interested
in getting the job done and keeping the client happy.
Management Style: It was a treat to work with Jess as her management skill are exceptional. Estimates,
timing plans and ensuring deadlines and key dates were met were a key part of Jess’ role. My
understanding was that Jess’ previous employer was not as process driven as we are at BCM – I was
delighted with the way in which she managed to take our systems in her stride. Her management of the
day to day running of our many accounts was commented on by several clients who saw the increased
efficiency in our work. She was diligent in managing client expectations and also in managing our workflow
to ensure we could meet deadlines (this is often quite hard in our office due to the volume of work that is
produced). She also ensured that creatives were given sufficient time to develop their work while still
keeping on schedule. A rare thing in a busy agency.
Strategic Ability: Unfortunately I did not have much time to determine the strength of Jess’ strategic ability.
The strategic direction for most of the campaigns that she worked on had already been approved when
Issued: October 2007

2. Jess started with us. Jess was enthusiastic in understanding strategic direction and often made suggestions
for improvement – many of which were implemented.
Ability to implement Strategy: Jess has that rare ability to get on with the job at hand without fuss. With the
strategies approved Jess would methodically begin the process of implementation. After the first 2 weeks I
did not even need to check whether jobs were proceeding as I knew that Jess was across them all.
Will he/she fight for ideas: Jess always looked to find a professional balance between the clients needs
and wants and maintaining the integrity of creative ideas. She will not simply accept changes as a fait
accompli but will assess and work with creatives to find the right balance that maintains creative integrity
and client demands.
Attention to detail: Initially Jess had some issues which checking work before sending it through but once
this was highlighted to her I saw a vast improvement. This flaw I believe was largely due to her eagerness to
be efficient rather than any laziness on her part.
Decision making abilities: The structure of our team meant that once the strategic and creative direction
was approved by client, the development of all other components was left to Jess and our coordinator to
handle. It was a delight to not have to deal with the day to day changes and Jess was very competent to
make decisions with regards to creative revisions. That said, Jess would ensure that I was aware of any
potential issues that may be developing to ensure that we could respond effectively. I usually found her
suggestions to rectify problems were astute.
Creative assessment: Jess was able to make assessments regarding creative development and the effects
client changes could have. I think that with time, she will be very efficient and be able to asses new
creative with an eye to strategic direction and key points of a brief.
Is he/she confidential: Yes. Jess was very discrete and I cannot say that I ever heard her ‘gossiping’ about
clients or team members.

3. How does he/she take criticism: I only had to criticize Jess once during her time at BCM and it was because
of her over-enthusiasm to do her job efficiently sometimes at the expense of detail. That said, once this was
discussed I saw a vast improvement in her balance between effectiveness and efficiency.
Pressure – how does he/she handle it: Jess seemed to thrive on the tight deadlines that we often work with
on our retail accounts. I did not see her stressed about her work although, like us all, she was often frustrated
when clients were slow to respond or we could not meet presentation deadlines due to unavailability of
creative resources.
Is he/she innovative/pro-active: Yes. Once Jess knew what her role within my team would be she would go
out of her way to be proactive and helpful in areas that she felt could be improved. She never needed to
be asked to do something twice and it was her proactivity that saw the smooth running of our accounts.
Strengths: Boundless enthusiasm, willingness to learn and take direction. A team player who is dedicated
and enjoyable to work with.
Weaknesses: Finding the right balance between efficiency and attention to detail. I am sure though that
now she is aware of it, she will work hard to fix this.
Character in summary: Jess fitted into life at BCM easily. Her friendliness, ability and desire to learn made
her transition to our working systems painless. She has a passion for what she does and she brings that with
her to work every day. While Jess was with us for a relatively short time, she was highly valued and is missed.
I am happy to recommend her.
Sarah Ferguson
Account Director