Sample letters of recommendation

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Recommendation or, as it is also called letter of recommendation - This is a type of document that describes the professional qualities of a person.

information about his skills, ability to cope with assigned tasks,
communicate with work colleagues, customers, partners,
learning ability
achievements, successes and the like.

Sometimes the personal qualities of the former employee fit in, but only those that are directly related to the work functions performed.

The recommendation often allows people to find a good, well-paid job in a relatively short period of time, of course, provided that it is positive.

Who gives a recommendation

A letter of recommendation is always written on behalf of the previous employer.

Moreover, the direct director, for example, the head of a structural unit, department, workshop, site, is usually directly involved in the preparation of the document.

Sometimes the formation of recommendations falls on the shoulders of a specialist in personnel, the secretary of the organization, or the director himself (in small firms). In any case, it should be someone who is familiar with a person who needs a recommendation, or at least enough to give the most objective, adequate and fair description.

If the recommendation is written by an ordinary employee of the enterprise, it must be signed by an employee standing in a higher position - only if this condition is met will the recommendation have sufficient weight and solidity in the eyes of the person for whom it is intended.

What you need to do to get a document

In order to receive a recommendation from the employer, it is necessary to write a corresponding statement in the name of the director of the enterprise or one of its representatives, in which you should briefly and correctly express your request.

It usually takes no more than three days to review such applications and provide recommendations.

Is the employer required to give a recommendation to the employee

The labor legislation of Russia does not say anywhere that the employer should provide any advice to his former employee.

This means that giving or not giving a letter of recommendation to an employee is the exclusive right of the employer, not his duty.

Thus, in order not to be deprived of the opportunity to receive a recommendation, it is necessary to maintain good relations with the employer and colleagues - this will not only allow you to receive the necessary document in a timely manner, but also to some extent guarantee the presence of positive feedback in it.

Does the company have the right to demand a recommendation when hiring

As well as the provision of a letter of recommendation, so its requirement is the will of the employer. If a representative of the organization, while hiring, insists on providing this document, there is no point in arguing with him, it is better to spend your strength on stocking up with the necessary paper.

Providing a positive characteristic from the previous place of work (or even several) will significantly increase the chances that the desired place will be obtained.

How to write a letter of recommendation

Since the law does not require the employer to write letters of recommendation to their employees, it means that there is no standardized standard for them. That is, representatives of enterprises and organizations can draw up a document in any form.

It is important to observe only a few conditions, in particular, that in its form and structure the recommendation corresponds to the rules of office work, and in terms of content and text - to the rules of the Russian language. The document should be sufficiently capacious and concise, strictly in essence, without vague wording, special terms and rude expressions.

The recommendation must include:

name of the employing organization on behalf of which the document is drawn up,
position and name of the person who directly gives the recommendation,
the characteristic itself - only the business and professional qualities of the employee, his success in the workplace, etc. should be indicated here.
information on why a person was fired from this place of work.

In the recommendation, it is permissible to give wishes to the future employer about under what conditions and in what jobs it is best to use the work of this applicant.

If desired, any additional documents can be attached to the recommendation: copies of certificates of achievement, victories, etc.

What should not be written in the recommendations

Despite the fact that the preparation of the recommendation is completely at the disposal of the employer, when writing it, you should adhere to certain rules and avoid some things.

In particular, you should try not to give negative, unsubstantiated feedback (i.e. writing such, of course, is not forbidden, but only if there is evidence and confirmation, for example, written evidence of disciplinary sanctions, etc.), but it should immediately be borne in mind that such a document is unlikely to ever be used for its intended purpose.

Inaccurate, unverified, or knowingly false information should not be included in the recommendation - the disclosure of such facts will damage the reputation not only of the person to whom the document was issued, but also of the person who issued it.

How to make a recommendation

The recommendation can be written on the letterhead of the enterprise (this will give it a more solid, meaningful look) or on a regular A4 sheet, by hand or on a computer. It is not necessary to certify the form with a seal.

The main condition is that the document contains a “live” signature of its originator.

Usually done one copy recommendations, and if necessary, its certified copies are created.

Document structure

Essentially, a letter of recommendation is an ordinary business document. Therefore, its compilation is subject to general rules. Based on the name itself, such a document is executed in writing. In principle, one sample of letters of recommendation for different occasions can be developed. Then it remains only to clarify some points regarding the addressee and the details of the information presented.

Any sample letter of recommendation has a standard structure. It usually includes the following mandatory items:

Title (name) of the document.
Brief information about the employer with confirmation of the fact that a citizen has really held a specific position with him for a certain period of time.
The list of duties. It is desirable that it be as detailed as possible. This will help to better assess the professional skills and abilities of the candidate.
List of business and personal qualities of the employee, which he showed at the previous place of work.
Description of his professional achievements.
The reason for the dismissal.
Recommendations for the future employer.
Details of the compiler of the letter of recommendation with the obligatory indication of contact details. They are needed in case you need to clarify the information provided.
Date of compilation of the document.

The list of items can be increased at your discretion, since the law does not establish a specific form of such a document.

Useful Tips

To make the sample letters of recommendation the most complete and correct, when compiling it, it is worth considering several useful tips:

Do not use on-duty phrases such as “the employee showed commendable initiative” or “the employee showed himself to be responsible and executive during his work”. This is any person already indicates in his resume. It is better to show in a letter his specific actions and achievements, backing up all this with numbers.

In general, in such a document, the new employer wants to see the answers to only three main questions:

what are the candidate’s strengths,
what benefit can he bring
the reason he had to leave his previous job.

It is advisable to fit the entire text of the letter on one sheet. This will eliminate the possibility of fraud on the part of the applicant.

The information presented should be true in order to avoid an awkward situation when someone wants to check it.

If a person for all the time has shown himself to be a mediocre and uninitiated worker, then it is better to refuse to write a letter of recommendation for him.

If you take into account all of the above, the document will help both the former employee and his new employer.

What a letter of recommendation consists of

Currently, such a document is not widespread in the practice of business correspondence between firms or government agencies to claim that there are some standards for its compilation. Of all the documents, along with a resume, a letter of recommendation can be attributed to the most creative in nature, therefore, it is desirable to make it up in conditions of a sufficient amount of time, and not in haste. In addition, the psychological attitude is important - the better the text is thought out and felt, the more it reflects the real achievements of the employee, the more benefit he can give.

It is initially compiled as a positive review of an expanded nature, which is dedicated to:

employee (in most cases)
the entire organization or its department.

The recommendation letter (it is often called an accompanying letter) consists of the following sections:

A heading indicating the full name of the organization, its details, contacts, and also (if available) its logo - most often companies have letterheads on which all official correspondence is printed, including letters of recommendation to employees based on established patterns.
Surname, name, patronymic, contact details and position of the person to whom the recommendation is given.
The introductory part, which indicates in what period of time and in what position the employee worked in the company (links to the relevant internal regulatory documents are given - orders).

EXAMPLE. Lagutina Angelika Viktorovna worked at Aldi LLC for 4 years (from May 212 to November 2016). Initially, she was approved as a sales manager, then in September 2015 she was transferred to the post of deputy head of the sales department in connection with the conscientious fulfillment of her duties and the constant implementation of the sales plan (order No. ABV-32 of 09/05/2015).

Information about the person or company, the department to which the recommendation is given. For an employee, personal data are given here (education, work experience, qualifications, personal and professional qualities that enabled him to achieve concrete success). It also describes the duties of the employee, in which projects he participated, including on his own initiative.

For all the time the employee showed himself exclusively from the good side. Lagutina was responsible in the sales department for the implementation of sales targets for the time periods established by internal regulations: month, quarter and year. Even during the difficult economic situation in the segment, the employee proved himself to be an effective manager, who managed to find the right solutions in unusual situations.

During its work, the sales plan was constantly exceeded on average by 25%, in which the management of the department and the company sees, first of all, the personal merit of the employee. Lagutina has demonstrated her ability to accurately comply with internal standards and regulations. There were no facts of being late, violation of labor discipline.

Lagutina has a higher professional education in the specialty “Organization Management (2008), has taken part in many seminars to increase the level of sales within our company, about which she has the corresponding certificates. She speaks English at the Intermediate level, so in August 2014 she was sent to represent our company at a meeting with foreign (Canadian and Finnish) suppliers, which also has relevant supporting documents.

Reasons for dismissal. As a rule, the company willingly gives recommendations to the employee if his dismissal is connected with extremely unfavorable economic circumstances: bankruptcy of the company, staff optimization. In other cases, especially when an employee leaves for a competing company, the request for a recommendation letter to the employee, even if he has a ready-made sample that you just need to fill out, may be rejected.

Lagutin's employee quits due to layoffs. The decision to optimize the staff was made at the highest level of the company, so at the moment it is not possible to review it. In this regard, the company is forced to part with some employees, including Lagutina.

It should be understood that under labor law, the employer is not required to draw up such documents. In addition, in order to arouse the trust of the future employer, it is better for the employee to indicate some objective reasons for dismissal:

moving to another city / new place in the city due to personal circumstances,
loss of interest in work due to the fact that for a long time functional responsibilities do not change, and career prospects are virtually absent,
the impossibility of continuing work due to a change in the personnel, economic policy of the company, because of which the employee cannot perform the previous work, etc.

In the final part of the recommendation, it is necessary to indicate directly the recommendations that relate to the personal and business qualities of the employee. It is best to directly answer the question why, in the opinion of the authorized representatives of the company, the employee is suitable precisely for the position for which he is currently applying.

We recommend Lagutin A.V. for the post of sales manager of the company "Thank you" and please pay special attention to her candidacy. In our opinion, she has a number of competitive advantages that allow her to distinguish herself favorably against most other candidates.

Finally, in the complementary part of the letter, the employer may, at his request, indicate how much he is grateful to the employee for the diligence and concrete results that he achieved during the entire period of cooperation.

At the end of the letter, as usual, the contact information of the organization and the person who compiled and signed the document is indicated, the date, stamp and signature are put.

NOTE. The presence of contact information in the letter is a fundamental requirement, since without specifying information about the organization there is almost always a reasonable mistrust in the letter: an unscrupulous employee could forge the company data and write the text independently. Therefore, it is best to bring in contact (including personal) of the particular employee who knows you well and who participated in the preparation of the letter so that the potential employer could easily and at any time contact him to confirm this information.

Rules for compiling a document

Letters of recommendation are widely used in foreign countries, but increasingly they begin to be found in Russia. Citizens who are specialized specialists, nannies, or accountants often collect portfolios that include recommendations from past employers. Such documents often act as a decisive factor in deciding on the employment of a citizen.

Examples of letters of recommendation allow each head of the company or an individual to correctly compile this document. When forming it, it is advisable to take into account some rules:

when writing text, it’s used exclusively business style,
if the head of the company is involved in writing a letter, it is advisable to use the company letterhead,
You can start the text by contact, if you know who will read the letter,
it’s undesirable to use different artistic techniques or metaphors,
it is necessary to list the specific skills that a citizen possesses, which will allow the future employer to determine the advisability of using the services of a specialist,
It is recommended to fit all the text on one sheet,
at the end of the document, the contact information of the originator is listed, provided by email or phone number, which will allow the future employer to verify the accuracy of the information,
a letter of conviction will be convincing, listing the concrete successes of a citizen at his previous place of work, for example, raising sales by several percent or successful and timely preparation of documents.

The content of the document depends entirely on who and for whom it is being prepared. First you need to study examples of a letter of recommendation for different specialists.

Content of the letter

Most often, such documents are prepared by employers for former employees. When writing any letter of recommendation, the correct structure of the text should be taken into account. Therefore, the document consists of elements:

The title represented by the title of the document
информация о компании или частном лице, занимавшемся составлением документации,
data is provided about the direct specialist for whom a letter of recommendation is being generated,
lists the candidate’s positive qualities, successes and other relevant information for the future employer,
the official duties indicated by the citizen at the previous place of work are indicated,
different achievements of a person in a company are given,
the reason why the specialist left work is prescribed.

At the end, a manager’s signature is necessarily put, which confirms that it was he who was involved in the preparation of the document, therefore I agree with all the data given. It is advisable to study the example of a letter of recommendation from the company to the employee in order to draw up a competent document.

Rules for registration

All points in such a document should be drawn up taking into account certain rules, which allows you to create a truly correct recommendation. The information should be comprehensive and interesting for the future employer. Studying examples of a letter of recommendation from the employer, we can draw conclusions regarding some of the rules for writing:

The title should be in the middle of the page,
the adviser submitted by the employer must indicate his contact details so that, if necessary, the future head of the citizen could contact him to confirm the information in the document,
information about the employee should be understandable, and this includes not only his name, but also the position he held at his previous job,
It’s advisable to indicate how long the citizen worked in the company,
all the duties performed by him are listed, which will allow the future employer to determine whether it is advisable to draw up a specialist for a specific position.

The emphasis is on the positive parameters of a specialist, which include education, punctuality, learning ability or other characteristics. With their help, the new leader will be able to understand how suitable the candidate is for the planned work.

What mistakes are made?

When drafting a document, managers of various companies often make serious mistakes, therefore, to prevent them, you need to carefully study the example of a letter of recommendation. An incorrectly made recommendation can harm the candidate, therefore it is important to take a responsible approach to its creation. The following errors are not allowed:

the use of pens of different colors,
the use of diagrams or drawings,
writing text on a regular sheet, and not on a company letterhead,
the presence of numerous artistic additions and designs,
mistakes in words
excessive exaggeration of the positive characteristics of the employee.

If the text greatly praises the employee, then such a letter raises suspicions and doubts among the future employer.

How to write a letter for a former employee?

Most often, a letter of recommendation is drawn up for former employees who leave for various reasons. If a good relationship is maintained between the specialist and the employer, then the head of the company can write a recommendation. To do this, it is advisable to look at an example of a letter of recommendation to an employee, which is located below.

When compiling this document, some features of the process are taken into account:

the professional qualities of a citizen are necessarily described, since the letter will be used in the process of searching for a new job,
provides information on different skills or abilities,
indicates how easily and quickly a citizen learns,
the achievements recorded at the previous place of work are listed.

It is often even indicated how sociable and sociable a citizen is. This allows you to determine whether he can freely join the established team.

A correctly drafted recommendation often allows citizens to find a truly high-paying and good job. A document is usually drawn up on behalf of the past employer. Often the procedure is performed by the general director.

Some employees independently make a recommendation, which is further signed by the head. In this case, he studies various examples and samples of a letter of recommendation for an organization or an individual, therefore he does not make serious mistakes. Before signing the document, the head of the company must make sure that it contains reliable information.

Is an employer required to draw up a document?

There is no information in the TC that company managers are required to draw up this document for their former employees. Therefore, employers themselves decide on the need for recommendations. This is not their duty.

Often, employees themselves ask former managers for documentation. If good relations are maintained between people, then usually the leader agrees to draw up a document, for which he studies examples of letters of recommendation in advance. The sample allows you to maintain the correct structure and enter the necessary information into the letter.

How is a student recommendation made?

Teachers, deans, or rectors often think about making recommendations for gifted and smart students.

Thanks to this document, a former student can count on a truly prestigious and highly paid job that matches his specialty and skills. When drafting a document, it is advisable to use the example of a recommendation letter from the teacher to include all the necessary data in it. In this case, tips are taken into account:

the document clearly spells out what skills a young specialist possesses,
It is advisable to indicate information that can really be useful to the future employer,
a person who is able to give an objective assessment of the student’s abilities and knowledge
all recommendations for the future employer are written that allow the specialist to effectively cope with the job responsibilities,
necessarily indicate the contact information of the compiler of the document, so that future employers, if necessary, could contact him to clarify any information,
much attention is paid to the moral qualities and personal achievements of the student.

Letters of recommendation drawn up by teachers can be used not only to find work as a young specialist, but also to transfer to a more prestigious educational institution. A document is especially necessary if the student plans to transfer to a foreign university, where such recommendations are really appreciated.

A document can be compiled not only by the teacher, but even by the dean, supervisor or rector. An example of a letter of recommendation to a student is located below.

Procedure for making recommendations for the nanny

Young parents are often forced to use the services of private nannies who look after their children if, for various reasons, it is not possible to send their children to the garden. When choosing a nanny, her experience, age, education and the presence of recommendations from past clients are taken into account. Therefore, many parents after the termination of cooperation with a woman make recommendations for her.

When compiling this document, the rules are taken into account:

initially there is a formal part, where the contact details of the nanny, her name, age and passport data are registered,
indicates the time period during which the woman worked as a nanny in the family,
lists her personal qualities, the nuances of the approach to children, as well as existing relationships with other family members,
when writing such a document, it is not necessary to adhere to any strict restrictions, but it should not be made too long.

Usually, women with numerous letters of recommendation evoke positive emotions among parents who are looking for a professional nanny. An example of a nanny letter is located below.

Accountant recommendation

Finding an educated and professional accountant is quite difficult, so potential employers when choosing a specialist pay attention to the availability of recommendations from their previous place of work.

Each company leader can draw up such a document for his employees.

When forming a document, tips are taken into account:

you can contact the future employer if he is known in advance,
indicates the period of work in the company,
lists all the achievements of the accountant,
professional skills and abilities of a specialist are given,
different personal qualities of a citizen are registered, which allow effective cooperation with him.

An example of a letter of recommendation to an accountant can be studied below. You can end such a letter with various recommendations and wishes. At the end, the signature of the head of the company, as well as the seal of the organization, are necessarily put. The contact details of the originator of the document are left.

Conclusion

Letters of recommendation can be drawn up for many specialists by former employers or teachers. Before the formation of the document, it is desirable to determine what information will be entered into it. Examples of letters of recommendation from the company of the company, from the company to the employee or from the teacher to the student are practically identical in structure, but the content can differ significantly.

For many company executives, the availability of letters of recommendation from the applicant is a decisive factor in deciding on the possibility of hiring a specialist. Therefore, many people try to get recommendations from all places of work.

Partner Opinions

A letter of recommendation for the organization can be drawn up on behalf of the partner company. It will look like a kind of positive feedback on collaboration. In such a letter, one company expresses its opinion about the work of another, recommending it as a reliable partner for mutually beneficial and long-term cooperation. Managers of some enterprises often make a similar request to their former customers or suppliers, and then use their feedback as an advertisement for their activities.

Making such a recommendation is easy. In this case, the following points should be considered:

It is advisable that the letter of recommendation be drawn up on letterhead. This will give more credibility to the information contained in it.
First, you need to mention yourself, that is, indicate in which relations the organization was located and the recommended company (client, supplier or partner).
Indicate the length of the period of cooperation, specifying in which area it took place (the provision of services, supplies and others).
It is necessary to emphasize the strengths of the partner so that other enterprises immediately have a desire to work together. Here you can note the literacy and commitment of its employees, as well as the stability and reliability of the company itself.
As a confirmation of all that has been said, it is worthwhile to give some real examples.

The text of such a letter will depend on the purpose of its writing, as well as the direction and scope of the recommended company.

Private opinion

In the case when a letter of recommendation for the organization is a private person, it is advisable to adhere to the same methodology. Such a document represents the individual opinion of a particular citizen. This usually happens if he:

previously I was an employee of this company and now just wants to recommend it from the best side,
is a client and wants to thank the organization for a good job.

In both cases, it turns out something like a review, which can also be used for advertising. For example, a person turned to a cleaning company for help and after rendering the service was satisfied with the work done. He can draw up a letter of recommendation and put it in the media, urging the rest to contact this organization with questions regarding cleaning. For reliability, he will need to indicate his data. This will make any potential client understand that such an opinion is not a fiction. It will be necessary to additionally indicate what kind of work the employees of the company did, how quickly they completed the task, and how well it was completed. As a rule, such a letter ends with an appeal to all those around to use the services of this particular company.

Babysitting services

When a child appears in the family, he requires a lot of attention and special care. But not all parents are able to give it to their baby. Most often this situation is due to their increased workload. In this case, a nanny is invited to the house, who will have to take care of all the worries associated with the child. When selecting candidates, both spouses need to carefully study each of them. After all, it is to this person in the near future that they will have to pass on their beloved baby. Abroad, in such situations, employees are required to provide a letter of recommendation. For the nanny, it will be an additional bonus when hiring. And such a document will help make sure that the employee really has the necessary knowledge and relevant qualifications. A letter of recommendation for a nanny can be:

the company in which she previously worked,
the family that hired her to care for their children.

In Europe, for a job for a nanny for a long time already require the availability of recommendations. Past owners or a former employer act as guarantors.

Employment assistance

In the case when an employee changes his place of work or pretends to participate as a specialist in a project, he is sometimes required to provide a letter of recommendation from the employer he has worked for recently.

The work book only states the fact of work in a particular enterprise. But it does not say anything about how a person manifested himself in the workplace. The desire to find a more prestigious job is clear to everyone. But not everyone is ready to give a recommendation. A lazy and non-executive employee may not even count on her. But a good specialist with great experience will always meet you. To make a letter of recommendation to an employee, it is best to contact your immediate supervisor. After all, only he can appreciate his professional skills and human qualities. Although, if you wish, you can compose the text yourself. It remains only to convince the leader to sign it.

Business Assistance

Many enterprises, entering the world market, face the same problem. Organizing work outside their own country, they have to turn to foreign banks with a proposal for cooperation. But local financial bigwigs are reluctant to make contact with "outsiders." They fear unknown customers and try to avoid unnecessary risks. But there is a very simple way out of this situation. The head of the enterprise can contact his bank, where he has been a client for many years, and ask him to draw up a letter of recommendation for a bank located abroad.

This document must reflect the following required points:

Confirmation that the specified company for a long time (preferably more than two years) owns an account with this bank.
The company is a bona fide beneficiary with whom during the entire period of cooperation there were no problems.
The company is solvent and has no debt to the bank.

These three points must be reflected in the letter. Only then will a foreign bank perceive the newcomer as a client with whom it is possible to build long-term and trouble-free relations.

For education

Now more and more people want to get higher education. It provides the prospect of future growth and allows you to count on serious achievements. Applicants who have such a desire may need a letter of recommendation to the university. It can be composed by the director or one of the teachers of the school.

As a rule, this is not required for admission to domestic institutions. But those who want to get an education abroad should definitely take care of the design of such a document. In it, the applicant should be given the most frank assessment. Moreover, teachers should be mentioned separately, as special achievements in certain disciplines, as well as personal qualities of the student. If the assessment is positive, then he will have great chances of entering this university. Particularly gifted students will even be able to count on certain benefits during their studies. After reviewing such a letter of recommendation, the leadership of the university will have a complete picture of a particular applicant and will already be able to decide on his admission. The document is prepared according to general rules and can be addressed to a specific person or to the university itself.

Document wireframe

Those who are first taken to evaluate someone else's work can be advised to use a letter of recommendation template. A document of this kind should contain the following required information:

Headline. В нем отображается суть данного послания.
Полные данные о рекомендуемом лице (кем, с какого времени и как долго сотрудник работал на данном предприятии).
Конкретные факты его работы в компании (чем занимался и каких высот достиг).
Всесторонняя характеристика сотрудника. Be sure to note its strengths in order to interest the future employer as much as possible.
Contact details of the recommender. Quite often, management turns to their previous place of work to clarify or verify some of the facts stated in the letter. This person should be ready to answer all questions.

Using such a template, it is necessary to take into account that employers are always interested in almost the same information:

abilities of the future employee
his strengths and weaknesses
misconduct and misconduct that he may have committed in the past,
reason for dismissal.

Having received the answer to all these questions, the manager will be able to make an informed decision.

Recommendation for a housemaid

The issue of employment of citizens in the case when the employer is an individual deserves special attention. These are usually nannies, gardeners, governesses, or housekeepers. Here, a work book is unlikely to be required. To get a family, you must have: a resume, passport and a letter of recommendation from the former owners. Some require a health record. It only at first glance seems that it is easy to choose a person for housework. In fact, everything is much more complicated. After all, in fact, this is an outsider. By its appearance, it is difficult to determine what he is capable of. I would like to know the opinion of those who knew this employee before. Therefore, new owners, as a rule, require to provide them with recommendations from past jobs. What should contain such a document? The text of the letter of recommendation for this category of workers is usually compiled arbitrarily. In it, the former owners are obliged to give a detailed description of their assistant. The following qualities are especially important for such a profession:

Professionalism. That is, the candidate is well aware of the procedure and technology for cleaning.
Honesty and decency. This is especially important, because this employee will often be left alone at home. The owners must understand whether to trust her.
Cleanliness. Dirty and slut will not be able to keep the house in order.
Energy. Only active and cheerful people can cope with such work.
Talkativeness. The worker, accustomed to chatting a lot, will not be able to keep family secrets.
Bad habits. It is better if the new owners find out about them immediately and decide whether such an employee is suitable for them.

All this must be reflected in the text of the letter. For a good employee, such information will be an excellent recommendation and guarantee of employment.

What gives a recommendation letter to an employee

Sometimes employees and employers who compose it do not take such a document seriously, believing that the new employer is able to independently give an objective assessment of whether the candidate is suitable for him or not, based on an analysis of his work book, a portfolio with documents confirming personal achievements, and during an oral survey or testing.

However, as practice shows, some employers directly indicate that they would like to see recommendations from their previous place of work. Therefore, the employee and his company should take a closer look at how to write a letter of recommendation correctly, understanding the fact that it is not enough just to download the sample and fill it out.

In short, a recommendation can provide these benefits:

in contrast to the workbook, the letter can reflect in more detail and informatively (rather than formally) the employee’s experience in this position and his specific labor achievements,
in a letter of recommendation you can reflect the personal and business qualities of an employee that are not indicated in certificates, letters, etc.,
finally, a recommendation can be made specifically for the right situation: a specific employer, a certain vacancy, and a specific set of job responsibilities.

Letter of recommendation: sample 2019

Samples of some letters of recommendation that are drawn up for the employee on behalf of the employer are given below.

Requirements for the text and design of a letter of recommendation

Regardless of the specific sample of the letter of recommendation to the employee, several requirements are presented to its content, text style and design, which should be taken into account if possible:

The text of the letter should have a formal business style.
At the same time, a large number of clericalism and cliches — “dry,” unnatural expressions — should be avoided.
It is better to draw up a letter on a letterhead, and if it is not used in the company, try to make the document more official with the help of artistic elements.
By the volume of the text: it should not be too large (for 2 or more pages) and too small (less than half the page). It should visually resemble a regular statement, and occupy about a page in text.
The letter should be printed in an understandable, readable font: neither large nor small.
Long, lengthy sentences that are difficult to read should be avoided.
The letter should contain as many specific numbers and statements about the employee as possible. It follows from the fact that the recommendation is essentially expanded and fully answers the question of why this particular employee is optimally suited to this position.
In the text it is better to avoid banal statements, widespread turns and epithets, for example, “hardworking”, “not afraid of difficulties”, “effectively copes with his duties, etc.).
If the letter is addressed to a foreign company, you should take care of a competent, professional translation of the text by contacting a competent translator.
Finally, you need to understand that recommendation is not a boast. It is inappropriate to use too lofty words, as well as constructions that explicitly exaggerate the qualities of an employee: “very good”, “perfectly copes with his duties”, “irreplaceable”, “excellent, beautiful”, etc. Such statements will at least provoke distrust or even a negative reaction.

Letter of recommendation: employer practice

In fact, it is quite simple to compose a letter of recommendation to that employee who managed to maintain good relations with the employer and does not go to direct competitors, but prefers to change the field of activity or move to a new position based primarily on personal development motives. However, it is possible to convince your employer of such good intentions only if you have a real trusting relationship with him.

In general, some extensive practice on the business turnover of letters of recommendation did not work out, therefore, real statistics on their use by employees can be judged only on the basis of separate online surveys, which, of course, do not reflect the fullness of the picture, but nevertheless serve certain reference point.

A different attitude to letters of recommendation for employees has developed in a number of Western companies (and in some large domestic companies): for them, it serves as a certain model on the basis of which one can make a first impression of the candidate. However, even in this case, such a document is used only in those cases when it comes to the appointment to a responsible position:

guiding
unique in its tasks (creative positions: musicians, journalists, artists, etc.),
position related to representing the interests of the company in public organizations and in the media (PR),
legal support of the company
sales, finance and audit.

However, in any case, no adequate employer will have a letter of recommendation to the employee, regardless of the model by which it was drawn up, will cause a negative reaction, except in extreme cases: when it is drawn up in an excessively laudatory, incorrect form that contradicts elementary business etiquette.

Therefore, the preparation of such a letter will not always be superfluous - this is an additional competitive advantage, which can play an additional or even decisive role in employment.

A detailed video commentary on the rules for writing a letter of recommendation based on the experience of foreign employers is given here.