|
|
Who should I ask to write a letter of recommendation?
Home » Careers » Letters of Recommendation » Who should I ask to write a letter of recommendation?Posted by Your Guide on October 12, 2005 5:38 PM
The right reference can present you to employers in a far better light than you could do yourself. Not every reference, however, is a good reference, and not all good references are the best references.
Start by glancing over your resume and thinking over your work history. List out your previous employers and consider what superiors and co-workers knew you best. Generally, you will want to use superiors as references because they had a more complete view of your work and know what information employers will want to know about you. In addition, a letter of recommendation from the company president generally carries more weight than a letter from your co-worker.
Good letters of recommendation are specific rather than general, so try to pick references who knew you well and had extensive experience with you on the job. Which superiors knew something of your personal character as well as your work accomplishments? Think of the superiors that were quick to compliment you and thought you did a good job—these are the references you want. In addition, look for especially applicable references. If you are applying for a job in sales, for example, use references that saw you in some sales capacity.
Finally, make sure you pick references who will actually write you a good letter. Many former employers will be so busy or so bad at time management that they will forget to write a letter. Other references are simply poor writers, so you might be wise to consider other sources.
In many cases, however, an applicant does not have a long work history with many companies from which to cull references. If this is your predicament, be creative. If you recently graduated, ask professors to write a letter of recommendation for you. Consider using co-workers or vendors and customers with whom you had business relationships. Sometimes, it is acceptable to use others who know you in a primarily personal relationship as character references, though you don’t want use relatives. Use these same strategies if, for whatever reason, you don’t feel you can use former employers as references. Be creative and work around it.
Related Articles
- What is a letter of recommendation?
- Who should I ask to write a letter of recommendation?
- What should I write in a letter of recommendation for someone else?
- Are there different kinds of letters of recommendation?
- What communication should I have with my reference regarding letters they write for me?