What Makes an Effective Reference Letter?

Thanks for the great questions that keep arriving in my in box. I enjoy reading them! One reader writes:

I've been reading your blog for a while now and always with the greatest pleasure, and now I have a question which might be of interest to you.

A great recruiter helped me to find my dream job, and now I'm writing a recommendation letter for him. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a sample letter for this profession or any other kind of advice, and thus take the liberty of addressing you. Are there any aspects of the recruiter's job that are of a particular importance? I can write a lot about this person's "personal-professional" qualities, like unprejudiced approach, timely responses, etc., but I want to write something of real value, something that other professionals in this area can appreciate too.

The key skill for a recruiter is the ability to make a sale. Recruiting is a sales job as much as anything - not only does a recruiter have to persuade a company to her, but she also has to persuade candidates to interview for vacant positions.

Therefore, if this reference letter is intended to help the recruiter either seek new employment, or advertise her services to potential clients, I would focus on her ability to match the perfect client to the perfect job (in this case you) and her ability to facilitate that match by selling you on the position and managing the transaction in such a way that she closed the deal. (If any of our readers who are also recruiters have other ideas, please feel free to let me know.) 

By the way - these principles also apply when you are seeking reference letters for your own job search (or writing them for other people.) Reference letters should focus on what matters to the target audience. A glowing letter about all aspects of your personality and background won't be as effective as one that hones in on exactly what the reader wants to know.

So when you request reference letters, you should always tell your referee what part of your background/skills you want to highlight, and you should determine this based on what you know is important to your target employers.

Comments

[Alexandra]

Thank you so much! This is just the kind of advice I needed. Now I'll do my best to put this in the properest words in my letter :-)