At some point in your career, you will probably be asked to provide a recommendation for someone seeking a job.  In today’s tightly contested job market, the personal recommendation is important.  Recruiters receive many applications from equally very qualified candidates.  Reference recommendations from a past employer or a personal contact play a critical role in the decision of who is offered the job.

This recommendation may be in the form of a letter requested by the job-seeking candidate to be included with the application or may be requested by the potential employer after the candidate is short-listed. Alternately, a potential employer may simply telephone you for your opinion.

You should feel honored that you were asked for your opinion on a candidate’s suitability for a position.  This is professional responsibility that has important implications both for yourself and for the candidate. It is critical that you be totally honest and unbiased with what you say about the candidate and only communicate information that you are confident is accurate.

As an aside, from the employee perspective it is essential that as a departing employee you do not “burn your bridges.”  Most recruiters will request references from previous employers. Never, never under any circumstances criticize the company or the people in the company that you are leaving.  Should you do so it will return and hurt you for the rest of your career. Memory is long and communication in today’s world is quick. Recruiters will find out about your unfortunate choice of words about a previous employer.

Additionally, as an employee it is important to recognize labor statistics suggest that the average employee will change jobs as many as ten times during their career.  No matter how secure your present job is, it is important to always be on the outlook for people who might serve as job references.  For example this may be your mentor, a co-worker, it may be a client who was extremely pleased with your performance, or it may be a person of influence that you meet through business or socially. Take the time to grow a professional relationship with these people.  A good mix of references that have different perspectives is valuable. References do not always need to be former employers. They all will play an important role in your unexpected or planned future job-seeking.

The first question you need to ask yourself when asked to provide a recommendation is if you are prepared to put your credibility on the line by recommending the individual.  Should you feel that you do not know the individual well enough or that for other reasons you cannot recommend the person it is best to simply thank them for considering you but decline without communicating the reason for declining.

You must also know the date by which the reference is to be received by the recruiter.  If you cannot meet this deadline then you should decline.

Never take the short-cut of asking the candidate themself to write the letter of recommendation or use a “form letter” and you simply sign it.  Recruiters will always detect that you did not write the letter.  The candidate will not get the job and your credibility will be tarnished.

Should circumstances permit it is a good idea to obtain information about the position sought by the candidate (job description) and a current resume.  Determine to whom you should address the letter.  You are writing to a person; not “to whom it may concern.” The recruiter will want to know how long you have known the candidate and your relationship to the individual.

Interviewing the candidate to determine why they are interested in this position and what strengths and weakness they would bring to the job might also be considered.  Perfection in a candidate is neither required nor expected.  The recommendation will be taken much more seriously if you are candid rather than providing only glowing superlatives. What is important to the recruiter is to offer the job to the right person.  Specific examples of achievements of the candidate that are relevant to the new job are important. Use action verbs and the active voice when describing accomplishments, skills and strengths.

Three areas of particular interest to recruiters and questions for potential discussion in an employment recommendation include:

Social Competence

How well does the individual work with others? Are they team-oriented, cooperative, congenial, open-minded, and understanding? Does the person have effective written and oral communication skills? Do they understand how to work in today’s diverse, multi-generational, and global workplace?

Work Competence

Are they able to apply training and experience to get results?  Is their knowledge and skills up-to-date and are they able to learn quickly and continuously? Do they have a network of professional associates to network with? Are they able to plan and organize work effectively; completing assignments in a timely manner, accurately and thoroughly?  Do they possess a good work ethic exhibiting punctuality and little unexplained absenteeism?

Character Attributes

Is the individual enthusiastic, motivated, self-starting, creative, a problem-solver, industrious, an independent logical thinker, perceptive, positive, emotionally stable and exercises good judgment, with honesty and integrity? Does the candidate have leadership qualities? Are they able to handle conflict, uncertainty, and stress?

From the employee perspective, should you be successful or not in obtaining the position always express your gratitude to those who supported you.

Providing an employment job reference recommendation is an important professional responsibility.  Accepting this task will give you a good feeling of contributing to the success and future of a fellow human-being. Always remember that someday even you to may have the need to ask others for a letter of recommendation.

By Terrance Malkinson