Writing a Reference/Recommendation Letter

The other day, I was asked by a friend to draft a letter of recommendation commending a former employee of his. I agreed to that without getting into too much of the details. Later I came to realize that I was being too naive.

Skillfully crafting a description appraising one’s professional performance requires detailed knowledge on the nature of job the person was engaged in, and task accomplishment logs of the person. I was lacking exactly that. Bluntly stating that a person has excellent history at the job does not help. As one expert has implied, although the work performance might be subjective, qualifications of the applicant are best expressed objectively.

Often times I’ve also realized the necessity of a template form, expressing a good performace remark, in general so that writing could be expedited. In resonance, general guidelines for writing recommendation letter are not uncommon either. Several books and articles have been published that consistently highlight cetain features of good reference letters. This post props some of the thoughts expressed by expert letter writers and builds upon those to put down a widely applicable template.

The purpose of a recommendation letter is to help prospective employer/educational institution evaluate the qualities, characteristics and capabilities of an applicant as stated by the appraiser. The person recommending usually ranks higher in achivement and position than the recommended because one has to have convincing credibility of themself to evaluatingly comment on the behalf. Although job specific recommendations can be addressed well to fit the requester’s intent to be informed on work related capabilities, the LoR may also be devoid of any specification of addressee (Hiring Manger/Professor/University Admission Officer/…)^[ Wikipedia article on Letter of recommendation]. This form of a reference letter is also called a “generic” LoR. However, generic letters do not usually seek a high ranking referee making the recommendation.

An example blanket recommendation that a candidate can furnish to several potential employers is shown below:

Employer/University Faculty/Admission Officer,

I am the Head of Academic Division(or Professor/lecturer) of YYY school (or YYY University), and am writing on behalf of Mr. ZZZ. I have known ZZZ from the December of 2017 (or whenever ZZZ joined the University), since the day he started instructing in our institution (or started attending my lectures). He holds remarkable task completion record for his duty as instructor while at our institution/school and has high moral standards.

Shortly after starting the classes, ZZZ became quite popular among students. He was duely admired for his practical skills as he was for his excellent lecture notes. In addition to his routine class attendence, he has served diverse groups of students through his advisory and counseling. Some impactful socio-economic and laboratory research works were conducted on the locality during his term. He was also actively involved in students’ performance assessment and result interpretation. All collegues admired his company because of the cooperative personality he possessed.

ZZZ has demonstrated salient capabilities of effectively managing workplace environment while fostering harmony. He has tendency to work very hard on any given project until the very end when definite outcome is realized. I believe he is a strong learner, as much of a good mentor he is. We would gladly have held Mr. ZZZ’s position at our institution if only he were not for pursuing his study further.

I recommend ZZZ to you without reservation. If you have any further questions with regard to his background or qualifications, please do not hesitate to call me.

Sincerely,

DD(Name of the recommender)

Head of Academic Division(Position of the recommender)

Another situation of writing on behalf of a candidate who you have agreed to referee and after the addressee contacts asking for verification.

Dear (Hiring Manger/Professor/University Admission Officer/…),

This is in response to your recent request for a letter of recommendation for XXX who worked for me up until two years ago.

Ms. XXX worked under my direct supervision at Extension Technologies for a period of six years ending in October 2000. During that period, I had the great pleasure of seeing her blossom from a junior marketing trainee at the beginning, into a fully functioning Marketing Program Co-Coordinator in her final two years with the company. That was the last position she held before moving on to a better career opportunity elsewhere.

Ms. XXX is a hard-working self-starter who invariably understands exactly what a project is all about from the outset, and how to get it done quickly and effectively. During her two years in the Marketing Co-Coordinator position, I cannot remember an instance in which she missed a major deadline. She often brought projects in below budget, and a few were even completed ahead of schedule.

Ms. XXX is a resourceful, creative, and solution-oriented person who was frequently able to come up with new and innovative approaches to her assigned projects. She functioned well as a team leader when required, and she also worked effectively as a team member under the direction of other team leaders.

On the interpersonal side, Ms. XXX has superior written and verbal communication skills. She gets along extremely well with staff under her supervision, as well as colleagues at her own level. She is highly respected, as both a person and a professional, by colleagues, employees, suppliers, and customers alike.

In closing, as detailed above, based on my experience working with her, I can unreservedly recommend Ms. XXX to you for any intermediate or senior marketing position. If you would like further elaboration, feel free to call me at (+977) 056-523621.

Sincerely,

YYY

Director, Marketing and Sales