Please I need your advice. I just got a rejection on my Exceptional Talent application. I was deemed to have fulfilled the mandatory and one optional criterion. However, for lack of sufficient evidence, I didn’t fulfill the second criterion (Contributions outside immediate work). For that criterion, I submitted my contribution as a member of the governing council of a not-for-profit institute. I am also a panelist at online events.
My questions are:
I am thinking of submitting fresh documents to support this criterion. Do I have to make a fresh application?
For (1) above, I have spoken at technology talks in Higher Institutions that involve mentoring undergraduates. Will letters of invitations count as pieces of evidence?
@Shola_Odutola I am very sorry about the rejection. Have you appealed because I got mine after my appeal? It would also give you more ammunition to properly submit a new application and it is also free of charge.
Are you a lecturer? You might still be able to overturn the decision if you can clearly distinguish your day job from the outside work contributions you made.
@sojo, thank you so much for your swift response. And congratulations on your endorsement. No, I am yet to appeal the decision. And no, I am not a lecturer. I am actually a Software Engineer.
At this stage I am trying to know whether to appeal OR do a fresh application.
Here is the text from the rejection: “While the candidate has a long career in the sector where he has shown significant impact, he has not fulfilled all the optional criteria. For the first optional criteria, the candidate has selected recognition for work beyond the applicant’s occupation that contributes to the advancement of the field. The evidence presented consists of volunteering for the governance board of BPMI Nigeria, being on a panel for the same organisation and academic contributions during the candidates MSc/PhD. These do not fulfil the criteria. The academic work could be considered part of the candidate’s immediate occupation as it was assigned work. Whilst the work with BPMI is admirable, it is not particularly significant and couldn’t be considered asadvancing the field sufficiently for this criterion. More evidence would be required”
I actually have more pieces of evidence of mentoring under-graduates through my Alumni Network coordinated by the Dean of Faculty. However, most of the invitations were done by email and phone calls. I am thinking presenting a letter from the current coordinator attesting to my previous participation in talks and mentoring sessions may be admitted as evidence?
By the way, how can I contact you for a discussion on how you overturned the earlier decision?
Thank you again for your timely reply. I appreciate.
@Shola_Odutola This sounds distinct because you are a Software Engineer and you contribute to academics on the side by volunteering and mentoring students. Please try to emphasize that when you are making your case. I hope it would be oveturned.
@Shola_Odutola I think so, in my own case, I got a letter from the program coordinator for the mentorship program I did. I then wrote about the significance and impact of the mentorship work.
@sojo Thanks for the feedback. I think that may have been what I failed to highlight even with what I submitted. I will definitely write on the significance and impact of my mentorship programs this time around.
Thank you for the hints.
If you believe you were not assessed correctly based on the evidence you submitted, I suggest you start with an endorsement review and help the assessors see how the document you submitted meets the criteria. They are very thorough but they do make mistakes sometimes .
However note that during an endorsement review you cannot add new documents. Instead, you need to just argue your case based on your submitted documents. You have nothing to lose as you technically have already paid for this process.
The good news is that you met 2 out of 3 criteria as such it may not be so far of to tick the last box.
For example, If the volunteering work mentioned was not part of your responsibility at work. You should bring it up, explaining based on other evidence you submitted including your CV, Personal statement, etc.
For question 1:
Yes. You would need to make a new application to submit new documents.
I will make a note of caution though. Be sure to consider your new application as a fresh application. Don’t assume because you submitted some qualifying documents before that you don’t need to submit those documents again. Someone did that leading to another rejection for different reasons.
For question 2:
Yes. Letter of invitations count. You can add these as evidence for your next application.
Wishing you the very best.
Note: this is not legal or immigration advice. I only shared my opinion.
Hi @badesemowo,
Thank you so much for your detailed reply. I do appreciate the time invested in this.
After self-examination, I admit I didn’t put much effort into the criterion that was rejected. I just assumed my being a council member of an Institute and because I was about rounding up an academic study was enough evidence. I didn’t prove anything about mentorship.
Yes, I have gone to the drawing board to gather more pieces of evidence. The good news is that I can get a letter from a University’s dean of faculty having given several mentorship talks. I can also highlight I do volunteer in training students on certification tracks in the not-for-profit institute I belong to.
And yes, I will be submitting a new application because of the fresh pieces of evidence in addition to the previous documents.
Again, I sincerely appreciate your time in responding to my post.
I also asked for a review and I didn’t submit additional document. I wrote a detailed explanation on the significance of my work. Having read their feedback on you application, I believe you can do this, like others have said, you lose nothing doing this, it is free.
I got a response in 10 days for my initial application. I sent in my review application 4 days later, 22nd of December, around Christmas period. So my review decision was made in two weeks. And yes it was positive!
I also think you should do the review first. In your decision document, the reason for the “no” is usually stated. I believe you should prepare a review by responding to their concerns in great detail. I know someone who got 3 “No”, and after submitting a review, got endorsed.