Fearless Interviewingout the door than have you feel so disgruntled that you may take
some negative action toward the company like suing it, or going
to the media with a distasteful story. Although it’s unlikely you’ll
receive a letter under these circumstances, a recommendation on
company letterhead can help you enormously.
There are three sources of information a prospective
employer can use to judge the character of a job applicant:
- What the applicant says himself or herself, either in the
résumé or the interview - What others say about the applicant in letters of recom-
mendation and references - The applicant’s own actions, which is an area an employ-
er will know the least about until an applicant is actually
hired
Naturally, the employer wants to know as much information as
possible about you before making an investment in hiring you. A
new hire, no matter how adept he or she is, usually means an ini-
tial loss of money for an employer while the person is being
trained and getting “up to speed.” It’s usually months before the
new employer starts to make his or her return on the investment
in hiring someone.
If you don’t feel comfortable asking your immediate super-
visor for a letter, try approaching someone above that person, or
someone even closer to the top. A letter from a coworker can also
speak well for your character.
A letter of recommendation can be fairly generic (and you
can use it to apply for multiple jobs) and would look like the sam-
ple letter on the following page.
If your employer is writing a letter of recommendation for
you and is wondering what to include, tell him or her to outline
the following:
- Some of your most valuable skills
- A few of your personal traits
- Any of your outstanding accomplishments or contribu-
tions to the company