A recommendation letter is an important document for a person who is applying for a new job, or trying to get admitted to a reputed university or college. Whatever the case, a recommendation letter should reflect the person’s personality, abilities and qualities. Hence, it should be written by a person who knows the person who has to be recommended, especially his characteristics, professional or academic achievements, etc.
Recommendation letters form a crucial part of any job application. Therefore, if you are requested to write such a letter by your employee, coworker, or student, before beginning to write the letter it is necessary to analyze whether you really know that person well. This is important because a good recommendation letter has the capacity to help the person in attaining a position at an organization, or an admission at a reputed college for higher studies. Hence, you should be able to write about the positive attributes and abilities of the person.
Formats for Recommendation Letter
A good recommendation letter
A good letter of recommendation should be thoroughly professional and should have a formal tone. The format one has to follow is the business letter writing format. The letter should be broken into three parts, the introduction, the main body, and the conclusion.
In the first part of the letter, you should introduce yourself and your relationship with the person you are recommending. A basic impression of the person should be formed in the beginning of the letter. This has to be followed by the main body, where you have to list the abilities and qualities of the person according to the level of importance.
You can take one paragraph for each ability or quality, however, each paragraph should not contain more than 3 to 5 sentences. After this comes the conclusion of the letter where you have to reinforce what you have said earlier about the person. You have to end the letter by mentioning your contact information so that the reader can call you up to ensure the authenticity of the letter.
Recommendation Letter Samples
For College Admission
To Whomsoever it May Concern,
As the Principal of Sacred Heart High School, I am extremely pleased to recommend my student, Ms. Kiara Wellington, for graduation at Columbus Mackney College. Kiara has been my student since she was in the fourth grade, and not only has she achieved excellence in her academics, but also in co-curricular activities.
From the time she has been the student of this school, she has always proved her prowess with exemplary skills during each academic year. Apart from studies, she is an excellent basketball player and is the captain of the school’s girls basketball team. As captain, she has secured several basketball championships not only at the district level, but also at the state and national levels. She has exhibited her maturity and leadership qualities as the head of the Student’s Council of the school as well.
With her strong academic performance to back her and a clear sense of the future, she surely deserves an admission in your college. I am sure that she will be one of the best students of your college. For any more queries, you can definitely contact me at my office on (284) 465-3847.
Yours Sincerely,
(Signature)
Ms. Maria Manderley
Principal
Sacred Heart High School
Recommendation Letter for Employment
To Whom It May Concern,
Bob Harris has been working in our company, ‘Quality Association’ as a technical writer for almost four years. Though he joined as a college intern, he is a very good learner, and in no time, he turned out to be a valuable asset to our company with his hard work and dedication.
Bob, who joined our company as a trainee, became a Team Leader in less than two years. As a lead, he not only leads his team to complete projects in time, but also motivates them to perform better with each project. It can be said that his quality of a hardworking person has surely been rubbed on to his subordinates and colleagues. He was dedicated towards his work and his performance in our company was nothing less than excellent.
Though I am really sad to lose such a devoted and excellent employee, it is my utmost pleasure to recommend him for your company. I assure you that Bob’s superior skills, work habits and accomplishments will prove to be valuable for your organization. If you want to make any further inquiries, you can contact me at (324) 346-7834 during business working hours.
Yours Sincerely,
(Signature)
Michael Carlson
CEO
Quality Association
After you have written the letter, proofread it thoroughly for grammatical and spelling errors. One important thing that you have to remember is that though it is important that you write about positive things about the person in question so that it creates a good impression upon the reader, see to it that the words you have written are factual and genuine.
In other words, do not go overboard while praising the person as this may look false to the person who is reading it. Rather just write a simple letter that serves the purpose for the person for whom you are writing it.
