Recommendation Letter

Letters of recommendation can greatly enhance your chances of being selected for an interview, or being the fortunate applicant who finally gets the job offer. The following information offers you some advice about how to go about collecting letters of recommendation and how to distribute them once you have them.

Who do you ask for a letter of recommendation?

Many individuals in your life might be good candidates to write a letter of recommendation on your behalf. Some suggestions include the following:

  • Past or current supervisors, team leaders, or co-workers
  • Past or current teachers, and educational advisors
  • Individuals who can testify about your skills as they relate to community involvement projects or other volunteer activity
  • Individuals who can discuss your involvement in cooperative field experiences, internships, or other work based learning activity

Help your reference sources out.

The individuals you ask to write may want a few pointers on what you would like them to discuss or emphasize on your behalf. If you want them to speak to specific skills, projects you worked on, or other particular areas, is is acceptable to let them in on this.

Here are a few ideas on key areas that you may wish to have emphasized about your background.

  • Attendance and punctuality
  • Enthusiasm
  • Cooperation and willingness to work as a team
  • Ability to communicate (listening, speaking, writing)
  • Problem solving skills
  • Maturity
  • Interpersonal skills (ability to get along well with others)
  • Discretion and loyalty
  • Conscientious
  • Ability to learn quickly
  • Willingness to accept new assignments
  • Self initiative
  • Willingness to adhere to company policies an procedures
  • Ability to plan and think ahead

How do you ask for a letter of recommendation?

Once you decide who you want to ask, approach them with more information other than a simple yes or no question. In other words, make sure that you give this person some details about your job search, your career goals as well as the type of reference information that would be most helpful to you. In this way, the person can relate your background and goals to the employment positions being sought after. If they agree to write a letter on your behalf, be sure to send them a thank note for their efforts.

How do you distribute the letters of recommendation?

Sometimes job postings will indicate that you should enclose and send a number of letters of recommendation. If this is the case, make sure that you do. If this is not stated in a job posting, you may want to call the company or organization you are planning to write and find out if it would be acceptable to send one or more letters of recommendation along with your application. Should you, for whatever reason, not include your letters of recommendation in with your written correspondence, you may offer to share them at the point of the employment interview. The key here is to offer them to the interviewer(s) and this would most likely take place near the closing of the interview.