✍️ Letter of Recommendation from your manager(s) -- is it important?

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Hi everyone,

As summer internship season wraps up (and Fall starts), a common question we always get is ‘should I get my manager to write me a Letter of Reference/Recommendation?’ 

The answer is – absolutely. There can only be upside to this, and it adds another layer of credibility and depth to your profile / future job application. 

Even if you’re beyond internships, this is relevant for you – I’d ask all my managers for a Letter of Recommendation as I’m leaving any workplace. 

A well-crafted Letter of Recommendation:

1️⃣ Adds colourful context to your impact – your resume is limited by space and your interpretations of what you’ve done. A strong Letter of Recommendation, on the other hand, goes into vivid details on how you stood out as a top performer, achieved incredible results, and came out ahead of your peers. 

2️⃣ Provides a 3rd party ‘stamp of approval’ – just ask yourself; would YOU think more highly of someone if their accomplishments came with an endorsement from a 3rd party intimately familiar with their work? 

3️⃣ Pre-emptively impresses future employers – reference checks are becoming increasingly common nowadays, but they’re usually done AFTER resume screening, interviews, etc. Why not let your future employers get a glimpse of what an amazing employee you are ASAP, so you stand a higher chance of succeeding during the resume screening in the first place? You can literally link the Letter on your resume to pre-emptively ‘impress’ your future employer. 

Example of a strong Letter of Recommendation I wrote one of my previous interns

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So now…..HOW do you get a kick-ass Letter of Recommendation? Our genuinely best advice: write it YOURSELF first, and give it to your manager to tweak & sign-off. 99.9% of managers out there will agree with this.

Why does this work? It comes down to incentives. 

You want the best possible Letter of Recommendation (presumably more than anyone else). Your manager likely has a lot on his/her mind — even if they absolutely adore you, your Letter of Recommendation is probably not their #1 priority. They’d write one, but chances are you can draft one first with much more details on your impact, achievements, etc.

You’d also be proactively making their lives way easier, which they’ll appreciate.

Thus — draft the letter yourself, and send it to them with a note along the lines of:

Hi [manager’s name],

Here’s a draft of the Letter of Recommendation we discussed; I wanted to make your life as easy as possible :). I’ve noted my key accomplishments on the summer internship based on our performance review conversations. Please feel free to tweak as you best see fit and let me know when you’ve finalised it.

Thanks so much in advance!

➡️ That’s it! If you want more details on HOW to draft the Letter of Recommendation content…..let us know by responding to this email with “More details on drafting the Letter of Recommendation please”, and we’ll make sure to cover it in a future newsletter.

Until next time,

Vincent (feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn 🙂)

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