Recommendations from previous place of work. Letter of recommendation to manager

In some cases, for a successful transfer or employment to a new job, it may be important for an employee not only a personal portfolio, but also a letter of recommendation, the sample of which depends on the specific situation. It is impossible to give a general formula for drawing up such documents of a largely creative nature, however, there are a number of features that should be taken into account when drawing it up in any case.

Currently, such a document is not widespread enough in the practice of business correspondence between firms or government agencies to claim that there are some standards for its preparation. Of all the documents, along with a resume, a letter of recommendation can be considered the most creative in nature, so it is advisable to compose it in conditions of sufficient time, and not in a hurry. In addition, the psychological attitude is important - the better the text is thought out and felt, the more it reflects the real achievements of the employee, the more benefits it can give him.

It is initially compiled as a positive review of an extended nature, which is devoted to:

• employee (in most cases);
• the entire organization or its department.

1. A header indicating the full name of the organization, its details, contacts, and also (if available) its logo - most often companies have letterheads on which all official correspondence is printed, including letters of recommendation to employees according to established templates.
2. Last name, first name, patronymic, contact details and position of the person to whom the recommendation was given.
3. An introductory part, which indicates in what period of time and in what position the employee worked in the company (links are provided to the relevant internal regulatory documents - orders).

EXAMPLE. Anzhelika Viktorovna Lagutina worked at Aldi LLC for 4 years (from May 212 to November 2016). Initially, she was approved as a sales manager, then in September 2015 she was transferred to the position of deputy head of the sales department due to the conscientious performance of her duties and the constant implementation of the sales plan (Order No. ABV-32 dated 09/05/2015).

1. Information about the person or company or department to which the recommendation is given. In relation to the employee, personal data is provided here (education, work experience, qualifications, personal and professional qualities that allowed him to achieve specific success). The employee’s job responsibilities and what projects he participated in, including on personal initiative, are also described.

During the entire period of work, the employee showed himself to be exceptionally good. Lagutina was responsible in the sales department for achieving sales targets for the time periods established by internal regulations: month, quarter and year. Even during a difficult economic situation in the segment, the employee demonstrated himself as an effective manager who was able to find the right solutions in non-standard situations.

During her work, the sales plan was constantly exceeded by an average of 25%, in which the management of the department and the company sees, first of all, the personal merit of the employee. Lagutina has demonstrated her ability to accurately comply with internal standards and regulations. No cases of lateness or violation of labor discipline were recorded.

Lagutina has a higher professional education in the specialty “organizational management” (2008), took part in many seminars to increase the level of sales within our company, for which she has the appropriate certificates. She speaks English at the Intermediate level, so in August 2014 she was sent to represent our company at a meeting with foreign (Canadian and Finnish) suppliers, for which she also has relevant supporting documents.

1. Reasons for dismissal from position. As a rule, the company willingly gives recommendations to an employee if his dismissal is due to exceptionally unfavorable economic circumstances: bankruptcy of the company, optimization of staff. In other cases, especially when an employee leaves for a competing company, a request to draw up a letter of recommendation for an employee, even if he has a ready-made sample that just needs to be filled out, may be rejected.

Lagutin's employee is leaving due to staff reduction. The decision to optimize staffing was made at the highest level of the company, so it is not possible to revise it at the moment. In this regard, the company is forced to part with some employees, including Lagutina.

It should be understood that under labor law the employer is not required to draw up such documents. In addition, in order to inspire the trust of the future employer, it is better for the employee to indicate some objective reasons for dismissal:

• moving to another city/new place in the city due to personal circumstances;
• loss of interest in work due to the fact that functional responsibilities do not change for a long time, and there are virtually no prospects for career growth;
• impossibility of continuing work due to changes in personnel, economic policy of the company, due to which the employee cannot perform his previous work, etc.

1. The final part of the recommendation should directly indicate recommendations that relate to the personal and business qualities of the employee. It is best to directly answer the question of why, in the opinion of authorized representatives of the company, the employee is suitable for the position for which he is currently applying.

We recommend Lagutina A.V. for the position of sales manager at Blagodar and we ask you to pay special attention to her candidacy. In our opinion, she has a number of competitive advantages that allow her to stand out from most other candidates.

1. Finally, in the complementary part of the letter, the employer can, if he wishes, indicate how grateful he is to the employee for the efforts and specific results that he has achieved throughout the entire period of cooperation.

At the end of the letter, as usual, the contact information of the organization and the person who compiled and signed the document is indicated, dated, stamped and signed.

NOTE. The presence of contact information in the letter is a fundamental requirement, since without specifying information about the organization, a justified mistrust almost always arises in the letter: an unscrupulous employee could falsify the company data and write the text himself. Therefore, it is best to provide the contact (including personal) of the employee who knows you well and who took part in drafting the letter, so that a potential employer can easily and at any time contact him to confirm the specified information.

Sometimes the employees and employers who draw it up do not take such a document seriously, believing that the new employer is able to independently give an objective assessment of whether the candidate is suitable for him or not, based on an analysis of his work record, portfolio with documents confirming personal achievements, as well as during an oral interview or testing.

However, as practice shows, some employers themselves directly indicate that they would like to see recommendations from a previous place of work. Therefore, the employee and his company should take a closer look at how to correctly compose a letter of recommendation, understanding the fact that it is not enough to simply download a sample and fill it out.

• unlike a work book, a letter can reflect in more detail and informatively (rather than formally) the employee’s experience in a given position and his specific work achievements;
• a letter of recommendation can reflect the personal and business qualities of an employee that are not indicated in certificates, diplomas, etc.;
• finally, a recommendation can be made specifically for the desired situation: a specific employer, a specific vacancy and a specific set of job responsibilities.

1. The text of the letter must be in a formal business style.
2. At the same time, you should avoid a large number of bureaucracies and cliches - “dry”, unnatural expressions.
3. It is better to draw up a letter on personal letterhead, and if the company does not use one, try to give the document a more official character using artistic elements.
4. In terms of text volume: it should not be too large (2 or more pages) and too small (less than half a page). Visually it should resemble a regular statement, and in text it should take about a page.
5. The letter should be printed in a clear, readable font: neither large nor small.
6. Long, dense sentences that are difficult to read should be avoided.
7. The letter should include as many specific numbers and statements about the employee as possible. It should be assumed that the recommendation essentially provides a detailed and complete answer to the question of why this particular employee is optimally suited for this position.
8. In the text, it is better to avoid banal statements, common expressions and epithets, for example “hardworking”, “not afraid of difficulties”, “effectively copes with his responsibilities, etc.).
9. If the letter is addressed to a foreign company, you should take care of a competent, professional translation of the text by contacting a competent translator.
10. Finally, you need to understand that a recommendation is not a boast. Here it is inappropriate to use too lofty words, as well as constructions that clearly exaggerate the qualities of an employee: “very good”, “excellently copes with his duties”, “irreplaceable”, “excellent, wonderful”, etc. Such statements will, at the very least, cause distrust or even a negative reaction.

In fact, it is quite easy to write a letter of recommendation for an employee who has managed to maintain a good relationship with the employer and is not leaving for direct competitors, but has chosen to change his field of activity or leave for a new position, based primarily on the motives of personal development. However, you can convince your employer of such honest intentions only if you have established a truly trusting relationship with him.

In general, no extensive practice has developed regarding the business turnover of letters of recommendation, so the real statistics of their use by employees can only be judged on the basis of individual Internet surveys, which, of course, do not reflect the full picture, but nevertheless serve as a definite a reference point.

Life situations are different, and you may someday need a sample letter of recommendation and how to fill it out.

In this article we will cover the question of why a letter of recommendation is needed at all, what information needs to be displayed in it and how to write it correctly.

From a legal point of view and according to some lawyers, letters of recommendation are a relic of the past, they should not be required when applying for a job, much less considered a mandatory requirement for obtaining the desired position, but employment practice shows that employers still ask for references from the previous applicant places of work or study. What functions does a letter of recommendation, reference letter, letter of introduction actually perform? In fact, the role of letters of recommendation is nothing more than an appendix to a resume, which significantly increases the chances of finding a job.

Let's turn to the concept of “Letter of Recommendation” and figure out what it is. This is a description that is compiled in free form, where the professional qualities of a person looking for a job are fully revealed. A letter of recommendation is drawn up at the place of study of the person or his previous work. Its task is to reflect the qualities of the applicant that are important when applying for a job, and either an educational institution or a former employer is ready to confirm this information. There is no standard template for a letter of recommendation, although there are approximate forms of writing it that reflect the personal and professional qualities of a person.

It is recommended that this document be drawn up based on generally accepted rules for writing business letters, and such paper is for informational purposes only. Let's list a number of rules when writing a letter of recommendation:

• Using a business style;
• Compliance with the requirements when addressing a person: Partner, you, colleague, employee;
• The absence of artistic phrases in the text that are used to decorate the narrative and do not carry any semantic meaning;
• The document must be certified by the signature of the person filling it out;
• The originator of the letter of recommendation must also be identified.

Let us recall the fact that a letter of recommendation is drawn up at the previous place of work or study, and there is no standard template for writing it. But if we consider the issue in general terms, then a sample letter of recommendation will have the following structure:

• We fill in the upper right corner: here we indicate the name of the employer and the institution where we want to get the desired vacancy, or we write the phrase “for presentation at the place of request” if the citizen is looking for work.
• In the middle at the top of the sheet (just below the right block) we write the name “Letter of Recommendation”.
• The next block is the main text of the letter, and it may look something like this: “I, Savelyev Ivan Petrovich, in the period from April 20, 2013 to March 15, 2015, was the immediate supervisor of Oleg Ivanovich Pavkin. During this period, Pavkin O.I. held the position of chief accountant of the financial department. His job responsibilities included: payroll for employees and preparation of annual financial statements. Occupying this position, Pavkin O.I. I was repeatedly sent to advanced training courses and seminars to familiarize myself with innovations in tax legislation. He coped with his studies “excellently”, mastering the skills necessary for work. During the period of his work at Businessproject LLC, he was repeatedly rewarded with certificates and bonuses for high performance results. He showed himself on the positive side, non-conflict, sociable, friendly with colleagues. Has a number of achievements, such as: “Best accountant of the department”.
• After the main part of the letter of recommendation, space is given to indicate the reasons why the applicant left his previous job.
• The last block is intended for the employer from the previous place of work to give a subjective assessment of the professional qualities of the former employee. Here an opinion is expressed about how the applicant worked, what qualities he showed, and other useful information is provided. The end of the letter is drawn up according to the following principle: “Based on the above facts, and personally assessing the professional qualities of O. I. Pavkin, we note his readiness to perform similar duties at a new place of work due to his full compliance with his previously held position. We wish Pavkin O.I. success and career advancement, improvement in the chosen direction and professional growth.”
• The entire text of the letter of recommendation must be certified by the signature of the official who compiled it. The date of its writing is also indicated.

The letter of recommendation must be certified by the employee's immediate supervisor. This could be the head of a structural unit, department, or branch. Today, such powers are gradually transferred to HR departments, due to the expansion of their powers, in particular to HR managers.

If the job applicant is a student, then the letter of recommendation must be signed by the dean, the head of the department and, in extreme cases, the rector, which is rare. In the case when a student took advanced training courses or attended preparatory courses, it is the course leader who is assigned the role of compiler of the letter of recommendation, and he also puts his signature on the paper.

Irina Petrova was hired as a journalist for the online publication PapaYurist.ru in December 2014. Already in February 2015, she was transferred to the position of producing editor of the news section; Irina Petrova worked in this position until June 2015.

Over the entire period of work in the online publication, Irina Petrova showed herself as a professional journalist and editor, showing the best qualities: efficiency of work, an inquisitive mind, analytical skills, instant switching from task to task, the ability to captivate readers with published materials, broad outlook and individual style letters.

As a journalist, Petrova performed the following functions: filling the site with news, monitoring the work of correspondents and freelance correspondents. In her position as editor, Irina Petrova performed the following functions: stylistic and literary editing of materials, searching for topics for future publications, selecting illustrations, coordinating texts with experts, moderating comments.

Irina handled her job responsibilities flawlessly, and as her immediate supervisor, I can confidently recommend her for work in similar positions.

Signature
Editor-in-Chief of the online publication “PapaYurist.ru” Ivan Fomichev

Zabelina Natalya Nikolaevna worked at Advanced Technologies LLC under my direct supervision as an accountant from December 15, 2005 to June 2015.

Zabelina N.N. was responsible for maintaining accounting and tax records in the company, for working with primary accounting documentation, monitoring mutual settlements with suppliers and customers, preparing and submitting reports to the tax service.

Zabelina N.N. has a high level of diligence, is an absolutely non-conflict person, constantly improves her professional level, she is characterized by responsibility and attentiveness, and has excellent mathematical and analytical abilities.

The personal qualities and professional skills of N. N. Zabelina allow us to recommend her for work in the positions of accountant, assistant chief accountant, and chief accountant.

Signature
Chief accountant of Advanced Technologies LLC
Gromova Antonina Sergeevna
Contacts: postal address, telephones, e-mail
Seal. Date of.

Sergey Fedorovich Erokhin worked at Tasty World CJSC under my leadership as a delivery driver from September 4, 2008 to May 20, 2015.

Erokhin S.F.’s responsibilities included: control of loading/unloading, timely delivery of food products to retail outlets, catering establishments, as well as vehicle maintenance. During his work at CJSC “Tasty World”, S. F. Erokhin fully coped with his job responsibilities. He always kept the cars entrusted to him in good technical condition and clean. He proved himself to be a responsible, careful, reliable and non-conflict person, and gained respect and authority among his colleagues. Erokhin S.F. knows the technical base of cars well, is well oriented on Moscow roads, and has not had any accidents during his work.

The personal qualities and professional skills of Erokhin S.F. allow us to recommend him for work in the following positions: driver, forwarder, forwarding driver.

Signature
Director of JSC "Tasty World"
Contacts: postal address, telephones, e-mail
Seal. Date of.

Nikitin Yuri Dmitrievich worked at the Textile City company as a sales manager from January 2005 to July 2015 inclusive.

As a sales manager, Yu. D. Nikitin was involved in large-scale wholesale sales of textile products throughout the Russian Federation. During his work, he demonstrated the ability to navigate the textile market well, analyzed competitors and their assortment, and over ten years of work he collected an impressive client base.

During all the years of work in the company, Yu. D. Nikitin demonstrated a desire for self-education, regularly attending courses on the ability to build a dialogue with clients, working with objections, and making presentations. Yu. D. Nikitin showed himself as an employee with a high level of self-organization, loyalty to the company, and focus on results. Nikitin Yu. D. has high sociability, easily finds a common language with clients and employees, and is non-conflict.

Signature
Director of Sales Department at Textile City
Contacts: postal address, telephones, e-mail
Seal. Date of.

Kristina Albertovna Egorova worked at OJSC Business Consulting under my direct supervision as a secretary from October 1, 2010 to March 1, December 2015.

K. A. Egorova’s job responsibilities included: planning the manager’s work schedule, maintaining electronic document management, business correspondence, receiving and sending materials to regional offices, preparing analytical reports.

Dismissal from OJSC Business Consulting took place on the initiative of Egorova K.A. in connection with her move to another city for a new place of residence.

I believe that Egorova Kristina Albertovna has the necessary professional skills and qualities necessary to perform the duties of a secretary/assistant manager in another company.

Signature.
General Director of OJSC Business Consulting Nikiforov Evgeniy Aleksandrovich
Contacts: postal address, telephones, e-mail
Seal. Date of.

A letter of recommendation is a type of review of an employee from his former boss or colleague. Not in all institutions this is a mandatory document when applying for a job, but such a letter can be a significant plus during an interview and when the employer makes a final decision. Let's consider the basic principles of drawing up a recommendation.

This document must contain brief information about the professional qualities, achievements and advantages of the applicant. It is through a recommendation that a potential employer can get an idea of ​​the candidate’s business activity, as well as find out the opinions of his former colleagues about his approach to work.

When writing a letter, it is recommended to avoid common hackneyed phrases like “reliable, efficient employee.” A letter of recommendation should interest a potential employer, but an abundance of “standard” definitions will not make the proper impression and is unlikely to attract attention. It is better to list in the document the facts of the employee’s participation in projects, achievement of specific goals and indicators, and successful negotiations.

When writing a recommendation, you should consider the universal qualities that any job seeker looks for in a potential employee. These are the ones you should focus on when writing a recommendation. Any employer would like to see in an employee such qualities as reliability, honesty, responsibility, activity, as well as a desire to develop. A good letter of recommendation contains concise information that demonstrates that the employee has these characteristics.

To write a recommendation correctly, you should know the basic principles of its design. All text, if possible, should fit on one sheet. Any letter of recommendation begins with a title. The address after the heading is indicated if the letter is written for a specific employer.

Next, there is usually information about how long the recommended person worked in the previous company and in what position. For example: “Ivanov I.I. as an accountant economist worked at the company StroyMir LLC under my leadership from June 10, 2010 to July 10, 2014.” Next comes information about the responsibilities of the former employee, a brief description, a description of the strengths of the applicant and his achievements during his work, if any. The document can also indicate the reason for the employee’s departure from his previous place of work.

It is better that the letter of recommendation be on company letterhead with the signature of the document’s originator. It is also advisable that the letter be certified by a seal. This will not only be a plus for the applicant, but will also give credibility to the company that provided the recommendation.

When writing a recommendation, you should indicate the contact information of the person signing the document: his name, surname and patronymic, as well as a contact telephone number. If possible, the letter is certified by the signature of the head of the company or the personnel department.

Writing a letter of recommendation in practice causes many difficulties. It seems that the person to whom the recommendation is dedicated is wonderful, and he is an irreplaceable worker, but putting your attitude towards him into verbal form with a business accent is not at all easy. You will learn what to write about and where to get the necessary information and wording. You will understand the secrets of creating a letter of recommendation that will make the right impression on a potential employer. As always, several examples of fully completed documents await you. In addition, the recommendations can be useful to you as an employee. Tests and other entrance examinations are undoubtedly important components of the process of choosing a future employee, but recommendations make a special impression. Therefore, if you quit calmly and without scandal, leaving positive memories of yourself, do not be lazy to try for your own sake and leave the company with a letter of recommendation.

First of all, let’s decide why we need to write a letter of recommendation? As a rule, it is required by a candidate for a vacancy during an interview with a future manager, with the personnel officer who conducts the interview.

A recommendation can present its hero in a positive and friendly manner, as well as in a neutral or even negative one. The first ones are the most common. They resort to the second when there is absolutely nothing to say about the employee or there is nothing good, but the person also does not want to create difficulties. Well, others are usually provided only upon requests from various government services.

The structure of this document is not much different from the structure of a regular business letter. Let us comment on the details that you should pay special attention to.

Name of company And background information about her must be present on the form.

Destination The letter is unknown, so this detail is not issued. In this case, it is not necessary, as in the certificate, to write here “For presentation at the place of requirement.”

Instead of header to the text, which is usually formulated in such a way as to answer the questions “about whom?”, “about what?”, in this letter it is appropriate to write a type of document “LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION” - this is business practice. It is better to type it in capital letters.

Applications to a letter of recommendation are rarely created. These may be copies of letters of gratitude, orders for the payment of bonuses for any merits or certificates of honor. In such cases, the “Note on the presence of attachments” detail is formatted in the same way as in a regular business letter.

Sign The letter of recommendation should (ideally) be from the general director of the organization, but here everything will depend on the connections developed within the company. The letter can be signed by both the head of the department and the top manager in the area.

It is advisable to register a signed letter by assigning it number and designating date. These details also give it weight.

The recipient of a letter of recommendation should be impressed not only by the details and content of the document, but also by the way you “handle” it. You need to present your recommendation as effectively as possible. It must certainly be printed on the employer’s letterhead, signed by the general director, and it is best to enclose the letter in an elegant folder or in a clean, unsealed envelope made of thick paper.

How to compose a text?

The introductory part of the text usually contains:

• information about who is recommended (name, position);
• short general assessment.

As a rule, all this fits into one sentence (see Examples 1-3).

Example 1

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I recommend to you Svetlana Gennadievna Petrova, who held the position of chief specialist in the management documentation department in our company and proved herself to be a hardworking, accurate and conscientious worker.

Example 2

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Example 3

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Main part of the text should disclose the overall assessment, having already covered in detail the professional and personal qualities of the recommended person. To make it easier for you to write this part, collect information about the hero of your letter. from his management and experienced colleagues. Find out in particular:

• how many years the person worked in the company;
• does he have a specialized education, does he attend seminars and advanced training courses in his specialty;
• whether you received a promotion;
• skills and knowledge of what related specialties to the “advertised” one he possesses (if they are useful and favorably distinguish his professional value from the general mass);
• what projects and processes were involved in;
• whether the company’s projects managed by this person won any competitions, tenders, grants;
• whether the person is a recognized professional in his field (speaks at specialized conferences, teaches at an institute, is the author of teaching aids, articles, books on his professional topics).

Then write here ten qualities that are important specifically for the position that the recommended person occupies. After all, we present the employee in the best possible light? This means that he possesses all these qualities.

Example 4

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The qualities that will adorn any career employee look like this:

• excellent knowledge of HR rules, labor legislation,
• ability to work in an electronic document management system,
• ability to use a computer at an advanced user level,
• Correct oral and written language,
• developed analytical thinking,
• ability to build friendly relationships with people,
• stress resistance,
• high learning ability,
• initiative,
• accuracy,
• diligence, conscientiousness.

When working on the main part of the text, try to look at the employee through the eyes of a potential employer. What is valuable to him? What kind of person would he hire? You can also ask the current supervisor of the employee for whom the recommendation is being made about this. You can be guided by your preferences only if you have worked in the field in which the person you are describing works (the main thing is not to write nonsense, so ask knowledgeable people to check the text you have prepared before signing the letter).

Another effective source of information, especially when you are writing a letter of recommendation for yourself, is resume bank your colleagues, those who:

• tried to get a job in your department or
• I posted my resume, for example, on the Internet in search of a job (you can go to the sites http://www.hh.ru, http://www.job.ru, etc. resources).

See what professional successes those applying for positions similar to yours boast about. After all, out of modesty, you may underestimate something about yourself or simply forget to mention it. And after reading the successful wording in someone else’s resume, you will understand that what is described applies to you, and you will notice the most successful wording. It is these found elements that can be borrowed.

And the description of the tasks performed at the current place can be borrowed from job description. Of course, there is no need to rewrite all of them - choose the most interesting ones.

The collected information is an almost ready-made letter of recommendation. All that remains is to link the obtained information into the text.

Example 5

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Petrova Ulyana Sergeevna worked as a senior clerk at Novy Svet LLC for the last three years and during this time she showed herself only on the good side. Having joined the company as a graduate of the Faculty of Office Management of the Chelyabinsk State Historical University, she began her career as a secretary and after two years was transferred to the office. Mrs. Petrova is distinguished by her constant desire to develop in her profession; she actively attends specialized trainings and seminars, the positive results of which were obvious!

Over the past year, Ulyana Sergeevna has been the head of the working group for the implementation of an electronic document management system at Novy Svet LLC. Thanks to her, the company was able to reach a new level of document management and significantly strengthen performance discipline in the company. Mrs. Petrova was able to organize the process of training our employees in new principles of working with documents and personally developed a number of teaching aids that are used daily in all departments of our company.

Among the personal and business qualities of Ulyana Sergeevna Petrova, I would like to highlight responsibility and initiative, the ability to be not only a careful and scrupulous performer, but also to manage the assigned project.

Finally, as expected, we summarize everything that has been said and draw a conclusion, the main idea of ​​which is this: the author of the letter regrets that he parted with such a brilliant specialist and is sincerely happy for his new employer.

Example 6

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As a leader, I regret that Irina Vasilievna Strogina left our team due to a change of residence. And I am confident that at her new place of work she will quickly join the team, revealing her best human and professional qualities.