Do you need to write or request a letter of recommendation? If so, then it can be really challenging for you. You should definitely follow some tips and guidelines in order to help you write or request the recommendation letter.
Table of Contents
- 1 Letter of Recommendation Templates
- 2 Importance of Letter of Recommendation
- 3 Sample Letter of Recommendation
- 4 Key Elements That Can Help You in Standing Out in a Recommendation Letter
- 5 Letter of Recommendation Examples
- 6 How to Write a Letter of Recommendation?
- 7 Letter of Recommendation for college
- 8 Quick Tips for Recommendation Letter
In order to save your time, there are several letter of recommendation templates available you can choose from. Be it, letter of recommendation for student, letter of recommendation for teacher or college recommendation letter, you can find all types of recommendation letters on our main website.
Let’s help you gain a clear understanding of the nuts and bolts of a recommendation letter.
Letter of Recommendation Templates
Importance of Letter of Recommendation
Sample letter of recommendation for job are used to help employers decide who to promote or hire. During this process, the applicant pulls out all stops and struggles hard to present themselves in the best manner. Besides the resume and interview, the hiring managers see the recommendation letters in order to gain insight from the third party and confirm a candidate’s qualifications.
With the recommendation letters, the employers just want to know what contribution the employee can give to the organization and how will they behave on a daily basis. Also, the job letter of recommendation tells them what would be the experiences of the candidate. In short, the job recommendation letters talk about future performance of the candidate highlighting their views from the past.
In addition to job recommendation letters, college recommendation letters are from students’ perspective. These letter of recommendation for student permits colleges to check out the potential students in order to find applicants who are respected by professionals. The recommendation letter also fortifies what is in the resume and application.
Additionally, a recommendation letter can also help college look over the personality of the student through the past school experiences. When asking for recommendations, make sure that you go to the professor or teacher who can paint in the best light otherwise negative recommendation would definitely leave a negative impact.
Just like college recommendation letter, letter of recommendation for students and letter of recommendation for job, letter of recommendation for teacher can help looking over the image and past performances of the teacher.
The institute can decide, looking over the experiences of the teacher, whether or not to hire the instructor. Generally, the recommendation letters are positive and highlight a good image of the candidate, employee, teacher or anybody and help them in achieving the opportunity.
Sample Letter of Recommendation
Key Elements That Can Help You in Standing Out in a Recommendation Letter
Recommendation letter ensures to leave positive descriptions of a candidate’s skills in a powerful and concise manner. It should include error-free, clear and effective language, helping you to gain the opportunity.
If you want to avoid mistakes, make sure that you download letter of recommendation formats from our main website so that you are able to write an error-less recommendation letter. Here are some key elements in a recommendation letter that can help you stand out from others.
Explains Solid Reason to Recommend You
When you want to write a recommendation letter, make sure that it comes from a reputable firm or source so that it holds weight and credibility. There are certain firms who often demand for a reference or recommendation letter from a professional and reliable company or firm that you have previously worked with. The letter should be written by the one who has supervised the candidate. Besides this, there are some firms which also demand for recommendation letters from colleagues, family, friend or neighbors. But mostly, manager, boss or supervisors provide recommendation letters.
When the supervising authority writes the letter, they explain who you are and what you have been doing (of course, in a concisely positive manner). They may also let the reader know how long you have been working with them. The main element they would highlight is the relationship and quality of work in order to provide honest evaluation and assessment. The recommendation letter elucidates solid reasoning to help you get the opportunity.
Contains Specific Anecdote and Examples
In addition to providing solid reasons to recommend you, the recommendation letter would also provide anecdotes and some examples of different scenarios in order to justify your qualities. These examples would surely be positive and paint a good image in front of the reader. At times, some writers just use simple adjectives. When those adjectives are supported by justifications and explanations, they put in more value to the letter and the reader.
These examples would not only help provide value to the candidate, but it will also portray that a candidate works on day-to-day operations. A writer should at least use two to three anecdotes in the recommendation letter, boosting the level of persuasiveness. In short, if you want your letter to endorse a strong and positive image, make sure that it does not sound insincere.
Customized to the New Position
While writing a recommendation letter, it is kept under consideration to provide a candidate’s accomplishments with respect to the past role. When writing about their past role, you should make sure that it properly connects to the next position they will be going to. Also, the writer should make them believe that they are compatible of making a career change, ensuring that they would definitely do well in the new industry.
When you want to know about the customized job position, this is where the candidate should open communication with the applicant. The candidate would have to share the job description so that the writer gets a clear understanding about the requirement of the position. Obviously, the writer will not do research on the job; the candidate would have to customize your letter for the new position. With that positive information, the candidate can confidently succeed on the new role.
Letter of Recommendation Examples
How to Write a Letter of Recommendation?
Now that you know how important the letter of recommendation really is, here is how you can write a letter of recommendation.
Begin With the Formal Letter Writing Format
The recommendation letter is a formal letter that is used for professional communication, following the similar guidelines and rules. You should begin with formal letter writing by:
- Firstly, you should place the address on the top right corner and then write the full spelled date.
- After that, on the left hand side, you can place the recipient’s name and address.
- Once you are done with writing the name and addresses, you should then open the letter with a formal business greeting.
- If you do not know their name, you can use Dear Madam or Sir.
- If you do know their name, you can use the last name such as Dear Paul.
Open Up With an Enthusiastic and Short Praise
After the salutation, it is time to open up with an enthusiastic and short praise. Keep in mind not to make the sentences too long. You should just make them believe that you trust the person and consider them as credible and reliable for the opportunity. Taking start with a positive note will help in making a big difference.
Explain How You Know the Candidate
After you have taken start, now it is time to provide explanation and context related to your recommendation. You should let the reader know about them. You should also tell them about meeting and the work relationship with the basic qualifications. Likely, the letter is written by the supervisory authority. If you are the manager of the candidate, you should tell them how good they were at work and consistency of work. Also, you can give some examples of their achievements and good work supporting it with logical and good anecdotes.
Explain About the Candidate’s Successes and Qualifications Specifically
When you are done explaining about how you know the candidate, now you should explain about the candidate’s qualifications and successes specifically. You should specifically tell about the candidate’s stories and evidences to back yourself up. As we have mentioned above, you should relate to what you have said and not just use adjectives. Support those adjectives with reasonable logics.
Contrast In Order to Demonstrate About the Success
When you present a candidate’s achievements and accomplishments by comparing it with other things, the reader will get an understanding of why you are recommending the other person. For instance, you can say that, “John’s performance and completion of projects have risen exponentially to 58 and this is the best result that has ever been achieved in the past two years in our company.”
Show Where They Can Improve, Do Not Exaggerate
When you are writing the recommendation letter, you should be very honest and need not exaggerate about the candidate. Ensure to write things and provide statements that are realistic and plausible. You should provide such statements so that the expectations are not too high. Also, it is not good to write stuff that will become next to impossible for a candidate to meet.
If they have a weakness, you should be honest about it but handle it tactfully. Do not hide it and do not exaggerate about it either. For instance, if the candidate is a student and also has to do their institutes’ work, you can say that, “John is a versatile and workaholic employee, handling classes, tutoring, work and household chores together.”
Close the Letter Positively
This is the closing time. Now that you are ending the letter, you can repeat the recommendation of the candidate and can also invite the recipient to contact you. For instance, you can say that, “For all the reasons mentioned above, I think John will definitely be an asset to your team.”
Use Business Closure and Signature of Your Name
Along with all the things mentioned above, you should ensure to be professional most importantly. If you are sending a letter in hard copy form, you can simply get it printed and signed by hand. On the contrary, if you are considering a soft copy form of the recommendation letter, you can simply type your name and add Sincerely, Thank You and Best Regards in the end.
Letter of Recommendation for college
Quick Tips for Recommendation Letter
When it comes to writing an effective recommendation letter, it would take both thought as well as some time. Before taking the plunge to write down the letter, you should spend some time with the candidate you are writing for so that you can discuss their objectives and goals. Here are some tips that you need to follow when writing a recommendation letter.
- You should make sure that you include information about the candidate such as their general duties, assignments, projects, responsibilities, achievements, subject matter, organizational skills, competence, creativity, leadership style, problem solving ability, communication, work attitude, and educational background.
- You should not use any comments that refer to their race, cast, creed, color, gender, religious belief or disability etc.
- Make sure that you have a copy of the letter with you for future reference.
- You should also type the recommendation letter on your letterhead and ensure to do your initials on it too.
Whether you are requesting or writing a recommendation letter, it can be a daunting task for you. You can use templates of recommendation letter in order to save your time and effort. Additionally, downloading recommendation letter templates from our main website would help you write or request error-less letters.
