My boss just offered to write a letter for me and thinks it we should draft it now – not a bad idea – I work for the United Nations, have been here two years and do media relations. Was wondering what qualities this letter should promote …
Any ideas?
I had one of my non-medical bosses write a letter for me. While I didn't tell him what to put in it, he sent me a copy (not at my request) after he had sent it to the schools. He discussed the performance of skills that were clearly relevant in the medical community as they had been in my old job- written and verbal communications, leadership, organization, handling a high level of responsibility in high stress situations, managing an office with multi-national personnel, etc. He illustrated his points with specific examples of things I had done while working for him. His letter ended up being 1 1/2 pages (don't know if that was good or bad). But you probably get the idea.
back to physiology,
Tara
Qualities med schools like: leadership (whatever that is), self-reliance, innovation, reliability, ability to learn new things quickly. Also, in your case, I'd have him emphasize how you worked to make the world a better place in whatever you were doing. Because it is the UN–and I realize that this is a ridiculous idealization, but it's an LOR so work with me–you can almost treat this like a form of service, and thus, think of it as partly a community service letter.
Also, just generally, you want to show that you are a badass. So, if you were in the least bit important in the scheme of things, that is nice for your boss to make note of.
I'm glad to see today that things are kind of looking a little better for you this week.
joe
Joe and Tara both have good thoughts on this. And having a letter that is 1 1/2 pages is not a problem at all. It usually translates into “they knew you well enough to write a lot of good things about you.” 
Leadership, interpersonal skills, communication (oral and writing) skills, initiative.
Cheers,
Judy
Oh, one more thing: although in the work world it is absolutely typical to see and even help to write your own letters, in the med school world it is not. In the med school world it is all very ritualized and super-confidential. So, what I recommend–Judy may shoot me for this–is seeing and even helping to write your own letter if that's what your boss wants, because keeping your boss happy in the process is key–but NEVER NEVER admitting it to anyone.
joe
Bang.