Recommendation Letter: Template, Sample & How to Write

You like to think of yourself as a helpful sort of person, we all do. When someone asks you to do them a favour, you’re keen to help. Work long enough in the public or private sector or academia and the time will come when someone—a colleague, subordinate or student—asks you for a recommendation letter.

Saying, ‘sure, no problem’ was the easy part. Now you’re looking to find out how to write a letter of recommendation. This article has you covered with a sample letter of recommendation, a complete writing guide, and plenty of UK-specific advice. Read on to have an amazing recommendation letter in no time.

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Had a different letter in mind? See:

• Acceptance Letter Sample
• Apology Letter Sample
• Appeal Letter Sample
• Appointment Letter Sample
• Appreciation Letter Sample
• Leave Letter Sample
• Reference Letter Sample
• Resignation Letter Sample
• Retirement Letter Sample
• Termination Letter Sample

Letter of recommendation template

Now that you’ve got a clearer idea of what you’re shooting for, here’s how to write a letter of recommendation, step-by-step:

1. Start your recommendation letter with a correctly set-out header and appropriate salutation

The whole point of writing a letter of recommendation is to make a good impression. In any kind of business or academic environment, professionalism is the key to doing that. A good recommendation letter keeps to the standard business letter format. A big part of that is a header and proper salutation.

If you know how to address a cover letter, you’ll find that the process is exactly the same here. For the header, align to the right your name, postal address, email, and phone number. Leave a line, add the date of writing, and leave another line. Then align to the left the hiring manager’s name, their job title, the organisation’s name, and the company’s postal address.

It can be tempting to go with ‘To Whom It May Concern’ or ‘Dear Sir / Madame’ for your salutation. The problem is that these are both well and truly outdated and far too impersonal. Use something much more targeted to really get the reader’s attention and make it clear this is a bespoke recommendation letter.

Start with ‘Dear + Mr/Ms + Surname’ or ‘Dear + First Name’. If you’re on equal footing with or higher up in the corporate or academic hierarchy than your reader, go with the more collegial ‘Dear Jamie’. Otherwise, or if you’re unsure, go with the safer ‘Dear Ms Warren’. 

Don’t have a name to work with? Ask the applicant. They can check the job advert, the company’s website, Microsoft’s LinkedIn, or generally search around online. If none of this works, they can call up the organisation and ask. At the very worst, ask them for the person’s job title and use ‘Dear + Job Title’, e.g. ‘Dear Hiring Manager’. 

Recommendation letter sample: header and salutation

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2. Open with the applicant’s full name and the position for which they’re applying

Help your reader quickly get a handle on what it is that they’re reading when they first open your letter of recommendation. Let them know why you’re writing, who you’re recommending, and to what position. Be sure to mention the applicant’s full name and the full name of the organisation to which they’re applying.

Recommendation letter example: opening paragraph

3. Indicate how you know the applicant in your letter of recommendation

Whether you’re writing a recommendation letter for a student, employee, or friend, you need to establish what qualifies you to speak to their suitability for the role in question. Describe how you know the applicant. State how long you’ve known them. Add a fact that shows how highly you think of them.

Letter of recommendation sample: second paragraph

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4. Show how the applicant meets the requirements of the job

Kind words alone don’t make for a professional recommendation letter. Your reader is looking for concrete evidence that the applicant is who they’re looking for. Give it to them in the form of two or three achievements that match key requirements. Don’t have these? Ask the applicant to provide them.

An achievement is just a description of how the applicant has helped you. The more numbers you can put to what they did and the benefits that fell to you, the better. Consider using something like the Action + Problem/Project = Result (APR) method to get these achievements structured right.

Keep this section as clear and easy to read as possible. Don’t hesitate to break it down into as many as three very short paragraphs. Use bullet points if you need to. Or even a table, if appropriate. The idea is that these achievements should be easy to find and return to quickly. Spotlight them.

Slip in a couple of the applicant’s skills, ones that are relevant to the requirements. Mention the applicant’s passion for the work and enthusiasm for the organisation. Try to add a fact that speaks to these. Talk to the applicant, they should be able to tell you why they chose this organisation.

Recommendation letter sample: main body paragraph

5. Close your recommendation letter with an eager CTA and sign off properly

End your recommendation letter as you would end a standard cover letter. Do it with a confidence-inspiring call to action (CTA). Invite the reader to reach out for further details. This boosts credibility. Finally, sign off by using ‘Yours Sincerely’ if you addressed your reference letter to a named person and ‘Yours Faithfully’ if you used a job title.

Letter of recommendation sample: CTA and sign-off

6. Keep these things in mind before sending off your recommendation letter

How effective a letter of recommendation is depends largely on how much weight your opinion carries. Your recommendation letter won’t be very convincing if it’s full of spelling and grammar mistakes, so proofread it thoroughly. An overly long letter won’t even get read, so keep it to a single A4 page.

Set even margins and leave plenty of white space

Set all four margins of your recommendation letter to one inch. Make sure there’s plenty of white space by increasing the line spacing to 1.15. Leave it at 1.00 if you’re low on space. Either way, be sure to double the spacing between paragraphs. Nothing about a cramped, overflowing letter says ‘read me’.

Go with an easy-to-read font

Use a professional-looking CV font. Something like Arial or Calibri is perfectly fine. Leave the font size at 11–12 points. Resist the urge to make the font smaller if you’re running out of space. Instead, cut content from your recommendation letter until it fits on that one A4 page.

Save the finished recommendation letter in PDF

Save or export your letter of recommendation in PDF. This will help to preserve the layout and formatting. PDF is also much more likely to display properly on a wide range of devices, as opposed to *.docx files.

Still unsure of how to write a recommendation letter that gets results? Writing a letter of recommendation can be a little intimidating, but just chip away at it and you’ll get there. Leave any questions, comments, feedback or advice of your own down below. We’ll be happy to reply.

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Our editorial team has reviewed this article for compliance with Livecareer’s editorial guidelines. It’s to ensure that our expert advice and recommendations are consistent across all our career guides and align with current CV and cover letter writing standards and trends. We’re trusted by over 10 million job seekers, supporting them on their way to finding their dream job. Each article is preceded by research and scrutiny to ensure our content responds to current market trends and demand.