Job
Letters of Recommendation
Information,
tips, & samples of job reference letters - how to request them, do's
and don'ts, special tips, and persuasive writing techniques.
| Employer
recommendation letters are a valuable job-searching tool which you can
use to your advantage in a number of different ways. For example, employers
often use what are termed general lay-offs as an opportunity to get rid
of undesirable employees. If you get laid off, it might raise the eyebrows
of a potential interviewer. They might question whether you were simply
an innocent victim whose job was eliminated or an undesirable the organization
gladly purged from its payroll. Employer recommendation letters that praise
your performance and explain why your termination wasn't your fault might
come in handy. |
Yours Free
Quick-Start Guide to
Letters of Recommendation |
Employer recommendation
letters can also reduce the burden of being one of your recommenders. Potential
employers often accept employer recommendation letters in lieu of contacting
and questioning the people on your list of recommendations. This alternative
has several advantages:
- It takes
your recommendations out of the hot seat; no one likes to be grilled
again and again.
- It can
speed up your hiring process. It takes far more time to check up on
all of your recommendations by phone or mail than it does to read employer
recommendation letters. One stellar letter might be all that's required
to make your potential employer ready to hire.
- It eliminates
the risk that your recommendations will be unreachable, or might do
a poor job because they're busy or having a rotten day. Only one unreachable
or poor recommendation can turn the tide against you.
- It allows
you to know exactly what your recommendations will say about you. This
makes it easier to interview effectively; you'll have a better understanding
of what bases you need to cover and which you can leave unmentioned.
For example, a referrer may mention in passing that you rely heavily
on the contacts you have in the city in which you live. This might be
a flag to a potential employer that you would prefer not to move to
another part of the country. If a referrer raises this issue over the
phone, you may never know about it. However, if it is raised by one
of your letters, then you know you need to cover it; if not, then you
know you have the option of leaving the issue for later.
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- Employer
recommendation letters often impress employers more than a list of recommendation.
Many recommenders come across as being more professional in print that
just chatting over the phone. There is something about seeing something
in print that makes it seem more significant.
- Employers
are often more comfortable with written employer recommendation letters.
Many justifiably fear involvement in lawsuits resulting from poor recommendations,
and they typically document what your recommendations say. If you use
employer recommendation letters, you've already documented everything
for them and reduced their liability.
Whom to Ask
for Letters of Recommendation
When collecting letters of recommendation, target employment-related recommendations
whom you know will give you good marks. For example,
- Executives
- Supervisors
/ Managers
- Subordinates
- Customers
- Supervisors
- Coworkers
Most employers
will expect to see employer recommendation letters from all of the people
to whom you immediately reported - at least those contacts that are most
recent.
Naturally,
potential employers might suspect that you targeted only favorable recommendations.
Nevertheless, it will still be reassuring to them that there are clearly
at least some people who have good things to write about you. Testimonials
work; they help put people at ease.
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If you have
little or no work experience, target favorable personal and character recommendations.
Professionals who know you well are most impressive, as long as they know
you reasonably well. Consider:
- Professors
- Teachers
- Lawyers
- Executives
- Doctors
- Ministers
Don't forget
about any non-profit experience you might have. If you were a volunteer
at the local hospital, get a letter from the coordinator. If you participated
in a club that may have some relevance, get a letter. If you helped do fundraising
for your alumni association, get a letter. All of these types of recommendations
can be used to help impress a potential employer.
Offer Assistance.
Even well-educated recommendations might not be able to write letters of
recommendation well. To head off this potential problem, offer to provide
an example, tips, and honest suggestions to help them to picture you in
your job role. Some of your recommendations might draw a blank when asked
to write such a letter, so they might be glad you offered. It's also in
your best interest to do so; otherwise, you'll have little control.
It is common
for recommenders to ask for a draft from the candidates themselves. Don't
be put off by this; it happens all the time. In fact, you may be so bold
as to offer to write a draft up front. Most recommenders respond very
well to this suggestion.
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If you're asking
for employer recommendation letters from recommendations who haven't worked
with you in awhile, some may not recall the finer points about you. Even
if they do, it doesn't hurt to help guide them so you both tell the same
story. In addition to samples and tips, offer a copy of your current resume
and cover letter, and refresh their memories with details of your traits,
skills, work habits and accomplishments.
Advancement
in your professional career (such as obtaining a job or internship) often
requires that you obtain job reference letters from previous colleagues,
supervisors, etc. You shouldn't feel that you are imposing when you ask
for such letters: the letter-writers should recognize that it is part
of their professional responsibility.
However, you
should also do everything in your power to ease the burden on your references.
Writing job reference letters can be a significant amount of work - if done
correctly.
Pile on.
Many applications request only one or two job reference letters, but including
three or four improves your odds. The impression you will give is that you
are such a good candidate that people will naturally want to give you job
reference letters, so you can't help but have lots to offer. Providing the
bare minimum indicates that you have to go through some effort to extort
a letter from some unwilling participant. That being said, it's better to
have three very strong letters than to have four letters with only three
that are very strong.
Choose well.
The ideal letter-writer is knowledgeable about you, the opportunity to which
you are applying, and the norms of letter-writing.
- Knowledge
of you permits the job reference letters to include specific examples
and anecdotes, which are much more powerful than generic endorsements
or praise.
- Knowledge
of the opportunity you seek permits the job reference letters to play
up the strengths and qualifications you have that are most likely to
be of interest to the reviewer.
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- Knowledge
of the norms of letter-writing prevents job reference letters from being
ignored because they are poorly written. You should only request letters
from people who will write you a good letter; you probably know whether
this is the case but may want to double-check.
Take the
initiative.
The best job reference letters are often written by the candidates themselves.
It is common for recommenders to request the candidate to write up a draft
for them to review and edit. If the candidate has written a professional
letter, the recommender generally just signs off on it. Use this fact to
your advantage. Offer to write a draft letter for your recommenders; you
are unlikely to be refused. Write a professional letter and it will generally
be accepted outright.
Give proof.
General statement of recommendation and praise carry little weight. Readers
want to know why the recommender has formed his particular opinion of you.
Therefore, it is not enough for a recommender to say that she recommends
you or that you are intelligent. Instead, she should give specific examples
or anecdotes that explain why she thinks so highly of you. What did you
actually do that makes her believe you are so intelligent?
Cover the
bases.
Don't omit obvious people such as past supervisors and advisors from your
list; these glaring omissions will lead those evaluating your application
to the conclusion that things did not work out very well, and that person
would have written a negative recommendation. If someone can't write a good
letter, you may consider listing them as a reference the reader might want
to call.
Match
your audience.
Try to include people with multiple backgrounds or who have seen you in
multiple lights (corporate supervisors and classroom teachers, for example),
but remember that people who are most similar to the reader will have
the most influence with them. For an academic or research job, focus on
academics and researchers as references; for a corporate job, your industrial
bosses are best.
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Start early.
Ideally, start thinking about job reference letters long before you actually
need them. Identify potential recommenders and curry favor with them over
time. Approach them about writing you letters and keep them on file until
you need them. Give letter-writers a minimum of two weeks, and preferably
a month or more, to write letters. (This is particularly true for the crucial
job recommendation letters.) People always resent a demand for immediate
gratification. The letter-writers have other responsibilities and deadlines,
and you don't want them to refuse you or do a shoddy job.
Target the
message
Keep your audience in mind. Your letters should focus on those traits which
will be of particular interest to the reader. For example, a position in
healthcare might require a gentle and caring nature; a position in industrial
sales will not. Tailor your message accordingly. Revisit past recommenders
so that they can update or tweak your letters to do a better job of targeting
the opportunity at hand.
Connect the
dots.
Don't make the letter-writer jump through administrative hoops. Fill out
any forms required so that all they have to do is review and sign them.
If needed, provide a self-addressed, stamped envelope to send you the final
copy of your letter (which should be on your recommender's letterhead).
Do whatever you can to ease the administrative burden and prevent mistakes.
Provide information.
No matter how good you are, recommenders are unlikely to remember many details
about you and your performance. And, of course, they will know nothing about
the opportunity you seek. Therefore, it is up to you to fill in these gaps.
- Write
a brief description of the opportunity you are seeking and why you think
you are qualified for it. Describe how the opportunity fits into your
larger career goals or philosophy of life (for example, if you hope
to become the spokesperson for a battered women's shelter, then explain
why you have chosen that particular cause.). This is often referred
to as a "personal statement."
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- If you
have not been in recent contact with the letter writer, you should provide
an update on what you have been up to recently. Provide a copy of your
current resume. This will also be helpful if the recommender knows what
you are up to now, but knows relatively little about your previous background.
- One of
the easiest and most effective ways to pass on information is to include
an Internet web site address ("URL"); most business organizations, for
example, have a corporate site. Brochures or pamphlets can also be helpful.
- Remind
your references of any specific details that might be helpful or that
are appropriate for a letter of recommendation. For instance, if the
recommender has nominated you for a special raise, then including that
detail in the final letter will buttress his evaluation of you as a
top performer. (It's easy to say in a letter that someone is a top performer,
but such details may convince the reader that it is actually true.)
Follow up.
Job reference letters sometimes get lost, and people sometimes forget to
write them. You should double-check that the letter has been completed,
and if not, ask the writer (more likely, the writer's secretary) to send
you another copy.
Where to Next?
Instant Letter Robot
Fill in the form and the computer does the rest; impressive quality
Sample Letters of Recommendation
Complete letters you can mix and match to develop your own
Letter
of Recommendation Template
One
of the biggest challenges in writing is to organize your thoughts effectively;
this section will show you how
Letter
of Recommendation Forms
Fastest,
easiest, and surest way to professional results. Standard letter of
recommendation forms can serve as templates for writing effective letters
of recommendation quickly and easily; the most practical are software-driven
Letter-Machine.com - Out of all, this is the easiest and surest way to success. Letter-Machine.com
is a letter generator - or electronic form / template - for letter of
recommendation. You fill in the blanks, select the options you want,
and press a button; the software does the rest. Very cool. Click the
following link for more information: Letter
of Recommendation Forms
Sample
Letters of Recommendation
Sample
letters of recommendation - provides several examples of effective letters
of recommendation and tips for using them
Letter
of Recommendation Example Pack - Provides several examples of
the various types of letters people generally need: job application,
student admission, scholarships, personal, etc. All of the letters use
the "success formula" we discuss here (see Letter
of Recommendation Template), so they all have the same structure.
This makes it relatively easy to cut and paste different sections together
from several different letters to produce a coherent and professional
letter. The package is in Acrobat (PDF) format, which virtually all
computers these days can read (the reader is a free download anyway).
You will be able to copy and paste what you need, so there is no re-typing.
Click the following link for more information: Letter
of Recommendation Example Pack
How
to Write a Letter of Recommendation
Getting started. Information, tips, & samples for
writing letters of recommendation - special tips and persuasive writing
techniques.
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of Recommendation.org Index
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