Business Letter of Recommendation Examples

Letter of Recommendation Template – Cherry on the Top of Your CV

A recommendation letter is written for employees who have decided to change jobs. The aim of this letter is to present the candidate’s personal qualities, professional skills, and achievements relevant to the position. Some companies require a recommendation letter be attached to the CV.

Is it necessary to add a recommendation letter to your CV? If you are applying for a leading or specific position, it will be better to attach a recommendation letter with a resume or CV. Many recruiters consider a recommendation letter as the “icing on the cake.” A good recommendation letter helps allocate the most prospective candidates among the similar resumes.

Sample Recommendation Letter for Employee – FAQ

If you have decided that you need a recommendation letter, you may face the following questions common for candidates.

Whom to ask? The recommendation letter may be written by a manager of the department, supervisor, co-worker, or any other business professional who has worked side-by-side with the candidate and can share his or her view on the person’s skills. The recommender should have a relevant position. For example, a marketing director would not be able to give a comprehensive recommendation letter for the skills of an IT expert.

If the candidate has no work experience, the letter may be written by a teacher, mentor, or any professor who has worked directly with this person during their college years and knows enough about the student’s accomplishments, character, and skills.

When to send a recommendation letter? If the description of your vacancy doesn’t require a letter of recommendation, you can mention that you have one in your resume. You can take a recommendation letter with you for the interview and mention that you have one and discuss it with your hiring manager. If you haven’t a chance to discuss the letter during the interview, you can send it after the interview. In any case, it is a good idea to have a recommendation letter at hand, even if you can’t find a reason to send it to the prospective employer.

What is the best time to ask for a recommendation letter? Asking for a recommendation from a current employer may be a sensitive and distressing task. There is no need to ask your current boss to write such a letter if you haven’t told him or her that you are leaving. You can ask your colleague or partner with whom you have closely worked on a project. Always try to ask for a recommendation letter from your managers and bosses when leaving a job, especially if you had a good working relationship. Don’t forget to thank your recommender for the time and effort spent on writing the recommendation letter.

How to ask for a recommendation letter? First of all, asking for a recommendation letter is your prerogative. The employer won’t ever propose to write a recommendation letter to you – you need to ask for it yourself. Try to formulate your request correctly and find out whether the person is able to give a strong recommendation. You can request it by email or during personal conversation. Usually, personal conversation is considered more effective, but it depends on the case. For example, you can write something like this: “Can you give a good recommendation?”

Can a prospective recommender refuse to give a recommendation? The boss is not obliged to write recommendation letters to employees. It will depend on your relationship with the boss and situation. Usually, recommenders refuse to write recommendation letters in the following situations:

• • Recommender can’t write a strong recommendation. For example, you have bad relationships or your professional qualities are weak.
  • Recommender is upset of your leaving. It may happen in the case when a company has put a lot of effort and resources in your professional development or you have decided to join the competitor’s team.

Usually, if the employee has worked in the company for several years, has shown strong professional skills, and has a good relationship with the team and boss, getting a recommendation letter won’t be a problem.

Why is a recommendation letter better than a phone call to references? If the employer will decide to contact one of the references that you wrote in the CV, he or she may receive an incomplete answer or distorted information. Just imagine: your previous boss is dealing with an urgent task or leads a discussion, when a phone call or email interrupts the work. Even if the person is sitting relaxed in the office or at home, it will be quite difficult to remember all of your accomplishments and strong skills after all staff changes.

If you want to earn extra points for your CV and gain attention to your personality from a prospective employer, always have a couple of recommendation letters at hand.

Recommendation Letter Sample for Student

If you have recently graduated from college or university, you may need a recommendation letter for a perspective job. If you have no work experience, you can ask your supervisor to write a recommendation letter.

The teacher that has closely collaborated with a student can give a well-articulated recommendation. A student’s positive traits may predict his or her performance at job placement. It is essential that the student usually has no or little professional experience, so it will be better to make emphasis on his or her character traits, leadership and organizational skills, and academic achievements. The teacher should decide what skills or personal qualities are good to discuss in the letter. For example, for a non-profit administrator it will be better to concentrate on demonstrating personality, while a recommendation letter for a nurse needs to demonstrate interpersonal skills and education performance.

What a Good Sample Recommendation Letter for Job Should Look Like

A recommendation letter can’t be a brief message that only confirms that you have worked in a particular company. Typically, a recommendation letter should be more than one page long and contain the facts about your position, period of work, responsibilities, skills, and achievements. The letter shouldn’t contain generic descriptions like “good,” “hardworking,” or “responsible.” It should contain specific moments from the candidate’s career and how he or she has fulfilled the key responsibilities. The recommendation letter should justify the accomplishments and skills presented in the CV.

While the content of the recommendation letter may vary from one situation to another, there is a list of basic components that should be highlighted in the letter.

 – Introduction. The writer should present himself/herself and tell about the relationships with the candidate. Mention the position and how long you have worked with the candidate. Tell the reader why your opinion should be considered credible. For example, clearly tell the reader whether you were the candidate’s co-worker, supervisor, or boss.
 – Body. This section should describe the candidate’s skills and depict situations where those skills were successfully applied. The text should be adopted in regards to the future position.

• Job experience
• Tasks carried out
• Personal attributes
• Intrapersonal and interpersonal skills
• Accomplishments and achievements

 – Closing. The recommendation letter should end with recommending words. For example, “I strongly recommend Jamy Morgan for the position, and I feel confident that he will continue to do the best of his ability.”
 – Signature. It is important to mention your name, contact phone number, and email. If the employer has questions, he or she will be able to contact you easily.

A good recommendation letter should contain any negative statements, facts unrelated to work, and false information.

Letter of Recommendation Format

A recommendation letter may be sent via email or standard mail, depending on the employee’s requirements. This type of letter should be written in formal style and contain a salutation, body section, closing, signature, and contact information. The writer should apply a standard professional font (Times New Roman, Arial, Liberation Serif, etc.) and font size (from 10 to 12 point). Don’t use non-standard and awkward font – the letter should be easy to read.

What is the best length for a recommendation letter? Some people say that a good recommendation letter should be more than one page. On the other hand, business people are constantly in a hurry, so they won’t have enough time to read a novel about a candidate’s accomplishments. The letter shouldn’t be too short or too long. We consider that the best variant is a one-page recommendation letter.

Business Recommendation Letter Template

If one of your employees has asked you to write a recommendation letter, this sample is the perfect example of what employees want to see from prospective candidates. This is a simple template that you can remake for your own needs, considering the employee’s skills and achievements.

Dear Mr./Ms./To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing on behalf of [candidate’s name] regarding the position of [position name]. [candidate’s name] has worked with me for [number of years] as [job title]. During that time I have gotten to know [candidate’s name] quite well and have seen many examples of his/her talent.

During his/her tenure with [company’s name], [candidate’s name] was responsible for [candidate’s responsibility 1] and [candidate’s responsibility 2]. His/her [soft skill 1] and [soft skill 2] created a friendly atmosphere in the office and made [candidate’s name] a great team player.

He/She has successfully developed [project 1] and [project 2] for our company. I have watched his/her [technical skill 1] and [technical skill 2] evolve over the years in our company. As a result, he/she [description of the result].

[candidate’s name] was always willing to offer [position responsibility]. He/She would be an asset to any company and I recommend [candidate’s name] for any employer he/she chooses to work with.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]
Your@work.email
[Contact business number]

As you can see, the template is brief and concise. You can add more details or an additional paragraph to make it look complete. Also, don’t forget to ask the employee to look through the recommendation letter, as maybe he or she will ask you for some corrections.

MBA Scholarship Recommendation Letter Sample

If the candidate applies to the MBA program, the admission committee will look for proof of leadership skills in the text of the recommendation letter. If one of your employees has decided to join an MBA program, you may be asked to write a recommendation letter. Here is a group of competencies and personal qualities that you need to address in the letter. It is expected that the candidate will have areas that need development, so be sincere in your descriptions.

Initiative. The person is prone to actively seeking new challenges and putting extra effort even if the project is not going well.
Oriented on the result. Focuses on the results and constantly seeks new approaches that bring better results.
Communication skills. Clearly and logically presents ideas and thoughts, listens and responds to feedback, and leaves a positive and professional impression.
Stress resistance. Remains calm and measured even in a conflict or crisis situation.
Collaboration. Can gather or engage other workers to gain their support of ideas and achieve results.
Respect for others. Values the views of others and utilizes empathy. Reinforces respect and praises people publicly.
Team leadership. Manages and actively engages the team members to contribute to the project. Considers individual abilities and successfully recruits members into their roles.
Adaptability. Easily adapts to the constantly changing environment and keeps an optimistic mood in the face of problems and unfamiliar situations.
Self-awareness. Can accurately name personal strengths and weaknesses. Actively seeks opportunities to address the desired improvement of weaknesses.
Problem-solving. Analyzes the situation, depicts the problem, finds the solution, and breaks it into manageable parts.

We sincerely hope that our samples will help you create a great recommendation letter for an employee. Besides, on our website you can find a detailed guide on how to write a recommendation letter. It should be especially helpful for those who are writing recommendation letters for the first time. If you follow our recommendations and use our samples as a template, we believe that you will create a strong recommendation letter. Good luck!