Question about a letter of reference

Factual Questions
1

Hey Gang, I’m hoping you’ll be able to help me with a question about a Letter of Reference I’m writing.

I’m a Team Leader (read: “low-level management grunt”) at a major call center that handles inbound customer support calls. One of my employees is moving on to bigger and better things, and I’d like to give him a letter of reference for any prospective employers. The catch is, I’ll only be in this position for another 10 days, as I’m also looking at a career change.

My question is about how to sign the letter. Initially, I was going to sign using my current job title, and my work phone number:

The problem is, there is a very real posibility that I won’t be here by the time some of these potential employers start calling. So then I’m thinking, maybe I should just sign my name and my home phone number. My concern with that is… well… it just looks so much more official and impressive the other way around!

Do you think it would still be professional to sign using my current job title, and then list my home phone number intsead of my work number?

P.S. I wasn’t sure if this was more of a GQ or an IMHO. Mods, please move as appropriate!

2

Just my opinion, but I think that a brief explanation to the effect that ‘since I will be changing positions in the near future, I will provide both my current title and contact information as well as my home number’.

3

I’d put my cell phone on it. And if/when someone called, I wouldn’t mention your own changed situation.

4

I think what I’m going to do is list my current title, but include both my home and cell.

Thanks for the advice, guys!

5

Whoa. Lots of companies have policies against managers giving letters of reference for employees. The reason is that if it is bad, the employee could sue, and if it is good, and the employee doesn’t work out, the new company can sue. I’d check with your HR department to be sure.

Letters for people not working in the company are fine. I ran into this a few weeks ago. I called the person at the new company asking for the reference, and he understood. So did the guy who used to work for me. He got the job, btw.