How To Write A Letter Of Recommendation

You want to recommend someone for a job as a lodger, for whatever, it doesn't matter. You want to write to the person who may take this friend of yours on. Friend, relative, we'll discuss who that might be.

The most important thing at the beginning is not to oversell the person, the person you're recommending. Now, that's particularly difficult of course, if they're very close to you. If it's a relative, if it's your son, or your daughter, and you want to contact somebody you know and recommend them.

Now, the trouble is if you load it emotionally, you make life difficult for the person at the other end. You will, you're raising the stakes. If you kind of say this matters terrifically to me, please see my daughter.

She's really great and talented and all the rest of it. If you oversell her, you're making it very difficult for the person on the other end because they start to think about all the what-if's. What if she can't do the job? What if she's not happy here? What if this becomes embarrassing and difficult, and threatens our friendship? So, don't raise the stakes.

Just be as neutral as you can be. So keep the temperature low. Just don't raise any expectations.

All you can do is say I think you might be interested to meet so-and-so and then explain why. Perhaps they have the relevant experience. Perhaps they got a particularly good mark in this subject at school, wherever they've just come from.

Perhaps they've just completed a stint in a similar sort of job. So they've got relevant experience or they've got particular character attributes that you can talk about quite neutrally. They're very good with people.

They are diligent. They're always on time. Think about the things you can put to that will help and mention those.

But always emphasize that you don't expect anything. All you can do, remember that the letter of recommendation is no more or less than the letter of introduction. In the end, you may say that your friend, son, daughter is really interested in this job.

But the only person who knows how interested they are in this job is them. And so it's going to be up to them eventually. That's all you can do.

You're a facilitator. Don't try, don't think you can wrap it up. Don't think you can get this person that job.

Or get this person the room that they want in the house that they want. So just to recap, three simple things, just make the introduction. Say I think you'd like to meet so and so because…give the reasons why you think the introduction is worthwhile and then get out of the way. .