How to Write a Letter of Recommendation

Help an Acquaintance Make a Good Impression

A letter of recommendation provides an
employer with a second opinion.

Writing a recommendation letter may seem like a daunting task. Our business document proofreaders have some simple guidelines that can help you get the style, tone, content, and presentation of your letter just right. The end result will be an effective and professional recommendation.

Remember, the person you are writing the letter for (the candidate) has asked for your recommendation as he or she feels you know him or her sufficiently well. The candidate believes you would be pleased to support his or her application. Whether the recommendation is for a college placement, an academic position, or a top job in the business world, your aim should be to provide support by giving a positive but balanced summary of the person and his or her skills and qualities.

Take your time when coming up with content

The best way to go about creating content for your recommendation letter is to take some time and plan what you want to say. We suggest the following points as a guide to organizing the content of your letter:

• Introduce yourself and state your position.
• Say how you know the candidate and for how long you have known him or her.
• Outline the candidate's skills that are relevant for the position and any relevant experience he or she has.
• Give a brief description of his or her personal qualities, for example, helpful, calm, etc.
• Mention how the person interacts with others, for example, a good team player, considerate of colleagues, etc.
• Say why, in your opinion, the candidate is suitable for the position/college placement and what you believe he or she could offer the organization.
• Emphasize anything outstanding about the candidate. For example: Does the person have any particular talents?
• Mention any important gaps in the candidate's skills or knowledge.

Strike a balance in your letter of recommendation

It is important that your letter be written in a balanced manner. Although the focus of your letter should be on the good things about the candidate, the college or organization you are writing to needs to know if the candidate needs particular help in any area. You may be concerned about writing something that seems negative, but as long as you present your views in a positive way, highlighting an area where the candidate needs to improve, your comment should not be detrimental. For example, imagine you are writing the letter for a student (let's call him John) who has difficulties meeting deadlines. You have already talked to John about this, and he is now working on his time management and organizational skills. You feel it is right to mention this in the recommendation letter as it is a fairly big problem for John, and you know he will need ongoing support while he develops these skills.

One way to approach this could be to write:

“John has many skills and qualities that I have mentioned above. However, to ensure he can achieve his long-term goals, he will need further support to develop his time management and organizational skills. He has been working hard to improve these skills over the last year, and I have already seen some improvement.”

Remember, your reputation for giving an honest recommendation is also important.

The style and layout of a recommendation letter

Now we have looked at the content; what about the style and layout of your letter?

The letter should be a standard formal letter with your contact details and the date at the top of the letter. Times New Roman font always looks very professional, and the font size should be 11 or 12 point.

Are you unfamiliar with the format of a formal letter? Then check out our article on "How to Write a Formal Letter."

You should address the recommendation letter directly to the person responsible for the application or to the Human Resources department if you don't have a name (in the case of a company). In the case of other types of organizations, you can address the letter “To Whom It May Concern.” However, it is always best to get the candidate to provide you with a contact name if possible.

Try not to write an excessively long letter of recommendation. A page should be sufficient as the candidate will also have completed an application form and/or submitted a resume or curriculum vitae.

Be mindful of your tone

The tone of a recommendation letter should be professional, with content that is easy to read and clear in meaning. You should show the reader that you are approachable and would be pleased to give more help or information. You can do this easily by adding the following sentence at the end of your letter:

“Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information.”

Make an impression with the presentation of your recommendation letter

Nothing looks more unprofessional than a recommendation letter with spelling, grammar or punctuation mistakes, and poor attention to detail. The spell-check tool in your word processor can help with this, but remember, this tool does not pick up errors related to homonyms (for example, you wrote there when you meant to say their!). It is, therefore, important to read through your letter twice before sending it to catch any small errors not picked up by the spell check.

If you still feel you need a little help to write that perfect recommendation letter, Scribendi.com's business document editing and proofreading services are here to help. Our professional editors and proofreaders can help polish a draft letter of recommendation giving you the confidence that your letter writing skills are at their best.