A letter of recommendation or recommendation letter is a document requested by a candidate from an old professional contact. The letter is addressed to a specific person/organization that is to become the probable employer.
In this letter, the recommender writes a testimonial and confirms the competency of an employee for a certain job. The recommender is, usually, the person who knows the employee personally so he can state the abilities and achievements of a candidate. In this letter, the recommender is recommending the candidate to an employer for a specific job.
There are three main types of letters of recommendation:
- Academic
- Employment
- Character
When a candidate requests a letter of recommendation for employment, the recommender makes an effort into proving that the candidate is the right choice for a certain position.
However, this letter cannot just be written by anyone. The recommender needs to be a professional reference who can vouch for you as a qualified and capable person for the concerned job.
A professional reference could be someone who knows you well such as a previous employer, mentor, teacher, colleague, or client.
There is no expiration date for this letter. However, the letters do decay as the circumstances change. For instance, a specific set of skills in particular software may not be required after the introduction of new software making the letter less valuable.
A letter of recommendation is different from a letter of reference. Both serve as a testimonial but the first one is specifically addressed to a person/organization for a specific job while the latter one is a general one.
Sample Employee Recommendation Letter
Date
Subject
Dear Ms. Laura,
It is my great pleasure to recommend Mr. Bill Walter as he seeks employment with ‘The Burgrisp’. I have been Mr. Walter’s supervisor for two years when he was working for my company “The [X]”. He worked for us for three years. He was hired as a member of the sales department but after experiencing his teamwork and communication skills, he got transferred to the HR department. This is the reason I highly recommend Mr. Walter for this HR job at your company.
He was a great asset to our company. He helped us in restructuring our whole HR system which helped us in increasing the department’s productivity by 12% over a period of one year. The turnover rate of employees also reduced tremendously.
During his tenure with us, Mr. Walter showed amazing performance throughout. His engagement and dedication will be observable even in the initial months of his employment with you. He does not perform alone rather, takes the whole team along. He is professionally well-qualified and skilled to perform any tasks assigned to him and the responsibilities bestowed on him.
I have no reservations in recommending Mr. Walter for the position of ‘HR assistant manager’ at your company. I am certain that he will prove to be a great value addition to your company as well. Kindly, let me know if you need any further information about him.
Regards,
Greg Bills.
File: Word (.docx) 2007+ and iPad
Size 19 KB
See also: Tips to write a Recommendation letter
See also: Academic recommendation letter
See also: Recommendation refusal letter
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