Recommendation Letters for Seniors

 

If you are at this site you have probably been asked to write a recommendation letter for a student. You will have to write a work skills letter, an academic letter or a character reference. Below are three links, one for each of the letters. Please click on the link that corresponds to the letter type you have been asked to write.

GENERAL GUIDELINES:

 Mention the name of the subject of the letter by name in the first paragraph

            In addition to announcing the subject and main purpose of your letter in the first paragraph, be sure to identify your "official" relationship with the subject (e.g. "teacher," "coach," "supervisor," "family friend") and the time period of that relationship

            Try to limit the letter to one page.  HR personnel/college admissions officers/scholarship committees are busy people.  However, too brief a letter will convey the message that you do not wholeheartedly recommend the subject.

            Using the subject's resume, focus on the achievements, qualities, and skills  that are most likely to interest the reader or that most impressed you.  Try to include at least one specific example that sticks out in your mind when you think of the subject.  Taking the time to avoid sounding completely generic is high praise indeed.

            Be honest in your letter.  Though you want to put the subject in the most positive light possible, remember that a letter of reference affects the reputation of its writer as well as its subject. 

            If you feel obligated to say negative things about your subject, try to be as positive as you can be in the letter as a whole -- for example, by calling primary attention to the subject's good points, or by using temperate rather than strong language to make critical remarks.  If this is impossible for you to do, you have the obligation to refuse to write the letter.