Professional Letter of Recommendation

Whether you are taking a break from your job and planning to join a business school, or you are thinking of changing your job to roam some greener pastures, in all cases you need to be armed with a professional letter of recommendation that will help you sail through the tough procedures of selection.

What is a Professional Letter of Recommendation
It is highly probable that at some point of your career you will have to request someone holding an important position in your firm to write a professional letter of recommendation for you or you may even have to write a professional letter of recommendation for someone else. Job recommendation letters will help you to cast a good and positive impact on your employer and they will increase your chances of landing up your dream job. A reference letter is written by a person holding some authority or a senior position in your company. A good recommendation from your past employer is helpful in getting yourself a job.

Tips on Writing Professional Letter of Recommendation
Some important points that you must consider before writing a professional letter of recommendation are as follows.

• Letters of recommendation should rarely be handwritten. Do type it on a computer and save it for future references, so that one letter can serve as a formatting for similar future letters.
• The letter should be personally signed by the writer.
• Write professional letters of recommendation in a personal and insightful manner. Maintain the human touch in the letter. Be professional and yet personal.
• Make sure the introduction and body reflects the attributes of the employee and his contributions to your firm. Mention that you have been proud about the respective employee who has been a part of your team.
• Don't exaggerate about the skills of the employee, it will eventually lead to rejection. Be frank and true.
• Brevity is the soul of wit. Stick to clear, concise and simple language usage.

You may read more on how to write a recommendation letter.

Example of a Professional Letter of Recommendation
There are various professional letter of recommendation templates that can help you to write professional letters of recommendation. Here, I have given you a sample professional letter of recommendation for a business school that has asked the student (who has to take admission) to produce a professional letter of recommendation from the former employer. You can read more on recommendation letter format.

(Your business letter head)

To The Concerned Authority,
Illinois Business School,
USA

Sir/Madam,

This letter is my personal recommendation for Nancy Jonas, one of the most prolific executives of my firm. I have been associated with Nancy for a period of four years and have seen her grown from a fresher to an executive. Nancy has been a consistent performer and has shouldered all the responsibilities with her team mates, with a pleasant smile. Besides being a high-spirited worker, Nancy has been phenomenal in giving shape to some of the innovative marketing ideas of our firm and she has ably represented our firm in the international and national level awards for marketing excellence. During her tenure, our firm has listed a record sales turnover, thanks to the creative ideas that Nancy often comes up with.

Nancy has been an asset for the marketing department of our firm and yet she has never stepped back in contributing to other departments, like marketing write ups, effective training for freshers program and monitoring customer help services on all our branches. Nancy has been a team player and has a thirst to learn more about management and the arious skills that will help her scale new heights in the corporate world. I recommend Nancy as a student in your business school and have full faith that she will prove to be one of your best students.

Yours sincerely,
(Signature of the person recommending)

Stephen Jobs,
Creative Director,
Myria Marketing,
Massachusetts,
USA

The above letter of recommendation must have given you some idea about the professional letter of recommendation format. You may read more on employment recommendation letter and see some examples of recommendation letter.

Professional Letter Of Recommendation Template
Let's now look at a professional letter of recommendation template.

(Sender's Name) Christopher Joseph

(Sender's Address, Line 1) Blueberry Lane
(Sender's Address, Line 2) Park Avenue, Illinois

(Sender's Phone Number) 020-8975469078
(Sender's Fax Number) 061-5647390002
(Sender's E-mail Address) goalmarketing@gmail.com

(Today's Date) 29/10/2009

(Recipient's Name) John Duan
(Recipient's Address, Line 1) McKenzie Road
(Recipient's Address, Line 2) Pennsylvania

Dear John (Recipient's Name or To whom it may concern)

It is indeed a pleasure to recommend John Brown for the position of marketing head in your company. John joined my company as a fresher for the post of a sales agent and has proven his sharp sales skills since beginning. Recently, he has been a marketing manager of three branches of our firm and has shown extraordinary performance by making record breaking sales in all the three branches.

John has excellent leadership traits and communication skills, not to mention a burning desire to be productive and prove his mettle in the firm. John is also a good team player and has been phenomenal in motivating the employees in the times of poor sales and harsh economy. During his tenure of four years, John has been helpful in increasing the sales of the firm and has come up with initiatives that have mostly worked in the favor of the company. His ideas for growing the sales every month has been a crowd puller, helping the firm scale new heights in the field of marketing.

John is a hard working employee and has always been a soft spoken person with a bright smile on the face. I personally recommend John Brown for the post of marketing head. John will surely be an asset for your firm. In the future, if I can be of any assistance in giving more information regarding the work of John Brown, do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours Sincerely,
(signature)

(Sender's Name and Title)
Christopher Joseph
CEO,
Goal Marketing Pvt. Ltd.,
Illinois

Below I provide some links for the above template and another warning letter template in downloadable formats.

• Professional letter of recommendation template 1
• Professional letter of recommendation template 2

Always ensure that 'professional letter of recommendation' is written on your business letter head and you can even mention the educational qualification, special projects and character traits of the individual. However, try to present the facts about the person logically and in a way that can impress the prospective employer.