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Last updated: Sunday, August 26, 2007

I recently had a real shock! When I found something out about reference letters.

But before I get on to that, lets just have a little background.

One of the tasks that you are obliged to do as a frequent employer of people - is you are asked to write reference letters for staff.

I have always thought that if you want to know how to write a reference letter, you should put yourself in the shoes of the one who must read the reference, and what they really want to know.

What an employer wants to know

It seems to me that a prospective employer wants to know to three different things.

(a) First they want to find out is whether the person is truthful - does the truth line up with the application?

So days and dates, job title, reason for leaving and particularly time spent in sickness

(b) Second they want to tick boxes

Was the person honest? Hardworking? Watching the clock? Would you reemploy them?

(c) Finally the biggest reference you can have is the stuff the referee is not obliged to write - it counts more than anything else.

If the referee is willing to write:

” she had a wonderful gift with people : she excelled in customer service, and all the customers liked her”

That counts more than anything else with the reader - the stuff you are not obliged to writer

But theres the real problem in how to write a reference letter What do you say, if you cant say good, but dont want to say bad?

Or if worse than that you feel obliged to give the new employer a serious warning!

I have always thought that if all you say is section (a) the facts - then any employer will read between the lines.

They will assume anything that is not good is bad.

I made a horrible discovery.

Did you know that the information you write is probably covered by the data protection act - that means that the person on whom it is written can request the letter from whoever it was sent to!!!

So now I am resolute. If I cannot say good I will not say bad. I will simply fail to reply, it is safer

For one thing….I know that as a requester of references, I always ring after writing: people are generally less guarded on paper.

So if you want to know how to write a reference letter - be warned - it might not be as private as you think!

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