I was laid off on Friday after working for a 5 year old company for a year and a half, and when I asked for a letter of recommendation I was asked to write it. So here goes, please let me know what you think, and any constructive comments criticism and suggestions will be appreciated. (Names and company references have been changed or deleted.)
*Subject: Letter of Recommendation for Mr. CH
To Whom It May Concern:
CH has worked at Company for over a year and half under the official title of Technical Advisor. Company is a start-up company, and as such everyone had to carry many different job duties. CH’s technical duties included upkeep of the office computers and network, as well as maintenance and upgrades to our servers and web page. He was also responsible for call-desk style tech support, which required creative thinking to diagnose and solve the problems, and in this aspect he displayed patience and perseverance to an admirable degree. It should also be noted that when CH came onboard with Company we had no technical person and CH had to teach himself everything, which he did quickly and quite efficiently. Another aspect of his job was in the realm of marketing. CH is a natural salesman with an easy way around people. He has given product and service presentations to audiences ranging from an individual to the heads of medium hospitals and large clinics as well as at conventions and conferences, something he does with an abundance of charisma.
I was thoroughly impressed by CH’s technical aptitude and people skills. His one main drawback was organizational skills, which have improved dramatically and were continuing to do so at the time of this letter. CH exhibited superior creative thinking and problem solving skills as well as the ability to self manage. He is a very fast learner, and an excellent teacher, he is patient and people respond exceptionally well to him.
Overall, CH is a very conscientious and able employee, and in the time that he worked here I have come to regard him as a friend. I regret losing his services and strongly recommend him for anything mid-level thru managerial in related technical fields or in Marketing and PR.
Sincerely,
Thanks lainaf, I still don’t like throwing in the orginizational part of it, but the truth had to be spoken. And I have always thought of myself as a friend.
They’ll never believe it’s from your boss if you don’t throw in the words “synergy,” “paradigm,” and the phrase, “We’ll helicopter this,” somewhere. Oh, and don’t forget about that time you saved a child from a runaway train while carrying an old lady across the street.
Seriously, it’s a very good letter. I agree with lainaf, mention your writing skills.
as a/our (depending on whether you were the only one)Technical Advisor, but in actuality wore a number of hats.
CH repaired workstations, maintained our network, upgraded our servers and managed our internet services.
(New Paragraph) CH’s ability to communicate effectively makes his technical skills all the more valuable. He is a natural salesman, and he used his skills to develop effective product presentations, both in-house and to external clients.
(Do not mention any drawbacks)
Delete the word “Overall”
…strongly reccommend him for any managerial position in Information Services or Public Relations.
Note: If you want to go a “marketing” route, you need to include more info about developing marketing strategies, rather than simply being a good public performer/presenter.
Thank you for the praise DeadlyAccurate, I’ve just never thought of my writing skills as one of my strong points, which was the main reason I didn’t list co-writing a FAQ and Help site for our software. I just don’t think I would enjoy tech writing.
Yojimboguy those are good suggestions and I think I’ll implement most of them, do you want editing credits on the end product?
I can make the bosses sign off line a list of credits at a size one font.
Something I forgot. You didn’t mention management experience, and if you want to land a management position, you need to add stuff about managing either people or projects.
You all found out my fell secret. I posted the above while visiting my parents house, where my brother logged in last. He’s not as bad as his drunken posts make him out to be though.
