As a student or job seeker, you need to learn how to get an amazing letter of recommendation. It is an executive knock on the door to your success, thus allowing you access into places you wouldn’t have ordinarily had a chance to get close to.
As if not enough, a letter of recommendation do not only grant you access, but it also gets you the seat your have sought for! That’s the magic that you attract when you master the nitty-gritty of writing letter of writing it.
What is Letter of Recommendation?
According to the concept given to it by one of the online education sites, it is a letter written on behalf of an applicant by someone who can vouch for that person’s educational or professional performance. For instance, it could be typically sent to an admissions officer or hiring manager for the favourable consideration of a candidate for admission, employment, or a scholarship.
It also helps round on an application. This is done by offering insight into an applicant’s personal qualities like integrity, intellectual curiosity, or leadership potential.
Writing a strong letter of recommendation as a teacher, counselor, manager, or co-worker can help give an applicant an edge over their competition.
Format of an Acceptable Recommendation Letter
Technically, writing recommendation letters require a special knowledge as its structure is somewhat different from every other type of letter. Check out this structural features out below:
- Date
- Recipient Name
- Recipient Title
- Recipient Address
- Greeting: Address the recipient by name if possible (Dear Ms/Mr).
- Personal introduction: Begin the body of your letter by introducing who you are and your relationship to the applicant.
- Recommendation: What makes the candidate a good fit? Offer specific examples of skills or qualifications that match the role.
- Anecdote or example: Include a personal anecdote about what it’s like to work with the candidate. Include any workplace or people skills you’ve observed them to possess.
- Closing: Give an overview of why you’d recommend this person.
- Contact information: Provide your email address and phone number so the recipient can follow up.
- Signature
How to How to Get an Amazing Letter of Recommendation
Getting great recommendations isn’t rocket science. If you just keep a few principles in mind, you too can get an amazing letter of recommendation:
-
Know What is Required
The application should clearly state how many letters are required and from whom. Some colleges ask for additional letters from non-academic sources, such as a pastor or coach, or even peers. Most of the time, colleges provide recommendation forms with their applications. Same thing goes for other companies or business organisations to which you aim to submit a letter of recommendation.
-
Choose Your Recommenders Carefully
You should select teachers or anyone with whom you have a positive relationship, who have taught you recently, or who have shown consistent interest in and appreciation for your work. Choosing a teacher or a professional simply because he or she is your favorite isn’t necessarily a good idea.
Choose someone who can make thoughtful comments on your work and have noticed how much academic or professional progress you have made.
The individual should be able to provide specific, qualified examples of how you contributed to the class or excelled, and they should be able to talk about you as a person as well as a student.
-
Make Sure the Recommenders Know You Well
Whomever you choose to write your letter, make sure they feel they can write you a strong and accurate recommendation. If the person isn’t sure and can’t give actual specifics about your performance as a student, then consider asking someone else.
A lukewarm recommendation will do you more harm than good. Your recommender should be able to write about your contributions to the classroom environment as well as qualities that make you stand out as a student. This is especially important if you are applying to an Ivy League or other highly selective college.
-
Give Your Recommenders Plenty of Time
Ask your recommenders as early as possible — at least one month before your application deadline and preferably in the early fall. And don’t forget to follow up with them at least once before the letter is due to make sure they have everything they need.
The end of your junior year can be a good time to ask for recommendations. Your teachers and counselors have just taught or worked with you for an entire year or semester, and your achievements are fresh in their minds. They also have the entire summer to work on your recommendation, so they won’t feel rushed.
-
Make It Easy for Your Recommenders
Supply them with any forms, instructions, and materials they need. It’s your job to do the heavy lifting for them. If you are using an application service, let them know what it is and that you will be “inviting” them through the service to complete a recommendation.
Why is Letter of Recommendation Important?
Here are three reasons why recommendation letter is so germane to your professional growth and advancements:
-
Relationships
Ultimately, relationships fuel career success more than any other aspect of your life. If you don’t know how to play well with others, collaborate, and gain the trust of those senior to you, your prospects are severely limited.
People evaluating you for admission or hire need to know how you manage relationships. Any testimonial from someone with whom you have a professional relationship will give them deep insight into this aspect of your character.
Being asked to write a recommendation is a sacred trust. Doing it well will help your colleague tremendously. Doing it poorly will hurt them.
-
Opportunity
As a candidate, your incentive is to get in. That will lead you to say the right things, or at least the things that you think are the right things. It will also lead you to present yourself in the most favorable light. Even without lying or hyperbole, your perspective needs a sanity check. You aren’t the final authority on how awesome you are. The gatekeepers need a second opinion. This is the whole point of social proof.
-
Authority
You don’t have the perspective of having managed a lot of people at your level, so even if you could be entirely objective about yourself, you don’t have a good basis for comparison. The decision maker needs to hear from an authority who can benchmark your awesomeness against at least a few and preferably many others.
