How To Write A Recommendation For Someone

The Practical Side of Writing Recommendation Letters

Most people treat recommendation letters as a favor they owe, which is why half of them are vague templates that look like AI generated them. That matters because hiring managers see dozens of these in a single week. When yours reads like everyone else's, it effectively disappears. I spent years on hiring committees for engineering teams, and the letters that actually moved someone forward shared almost nothing in common with the ones that got deleted in three seconds. The real problem isn't that people don't know how to write one. It's that they don't understand what a recommendation letter is actually for. It's not a compliment list. It's a credibility transfer. You are letting your own professional reputation take a small hit to boost someone else's. Every claim you make about them becomes a reflection on you. That relationship between writer and subject is what most people miss entirely.

How To Write A Recommendation For Someone

Start by asking the person for three things before you write a single word. Their current resume or LinkedIn profile, a brief summary of what role or program they're targeting, and at least two specific projects or achievements they're proud of. Without this, you're guessing. With it, you have material to work with that doesn't require five hours of memory excavation. I learned this the hard way about six years ago. A former colleague asked me to recommend her for a senior product management role at a company I'd interviewed at but wasn't involved with anymore. I wrote a solid letter based on our time working together, sent it off, and never heard back. Three months later, she told me she got rejected. The feedback was brutal but useful: the letter was generic, praised traits that applied to anyone, and didn't address the specific skills the role required. I had recommended someone I genuinely respected, but I hadn't recommended her for that particular job. There's a difference, and hiring teams can tell. After that, I changed my approach completely. Every recommendation now starts with the job description or program requirements. I look for the gap between what they're asking for and what the candidate has actually done. The letter fills that gap with evidence, not adjectives. Instead of saying someone is a good leader, you describe the time they took over a failing project, reorganized the team structure, and delivered it two weeks ahead of schedule while keeping turnover below ten percent. Numbers and specifics do the heavy lifting. Adjectives just fill space.

Structure it simply. Open with how you know the person and the capacity in which you've worked together. Then pick two or three key qualities that directly match what the opportunity requires, and support each one with a concrete example. Close with a clear, unqualified endorsement. That's it. You don't need eight paragraphs. You need three good ones. One thing that surprises people: the length matters less than the precision. A one-page letter with specific, verifiable claims outperforms a two-page letter full of praise that could apply to anyone. I've seen it happen repeatedly. The reading time for these letters is roughly forty-five seconds on average, maybe slightly longer if the committee is already impressed by the candidate's resume. You have that long to make your case.

Common Mistakes That Undermine Your Letter

The most damaging error is hedging. Phrases like "I think she's probably a good fit" or "to the best of my knowledge" signal that you're not confident enough in your own assessment to stake your reputation on it. If you're unsure, don't write the letter. It's better to decline than to write a weak one that hurts both of you. Another mistake is listing responsibilities instead of describing impact. "She was responsible for managing a team of five" tells you nothing about how well she managed that team. "She built a five-person team from scratch and reduced onboarding time by thirty percent within six months" tells you everything. The first is a duty description. The second is evidence of competence. People also tend to overuse superlatives. Words like "exceptional," "remarkable," and "outstanding" appear in nearly every recommendation letter I've ever read. When everything is exceptional, nothing is. Pick one or two moments that genuinely stand out and describe them plainly. The reader will draw their own conclusion about how exceptional the person is, and that conclusion will carry more weight than any adjective you could insert.

Advanced Nuances Most People Skip

Here's something counter-intuitive: including a minor weakness, when done correctly, actually strengthens your letter. A carefully chosen limitation that shows self-awareness and growth makes the rest of your endorsement feel more honest and credible. "Early in our collaboration, he struggled with delegating tasks because he cared deeply about quality. Over the next year, he developed a structured review process that allowed him to delegate confidently while maintaining standards." That's not a weakness disguised as a strength. It's a genuine challenge that was addressed through specific action. Another nuance involves the closing statement. Most letters end with something generic like "I recommend her without reservation." That's fine, but it's also forgettable. A more memorable closing ties the candidate's strengths directly to the opportunity. "Given the role's emphasis on cross-functional leadership and rapid iteration, I'm confident she'll contribute from day one." This shows you understood the position and matched the candidate to it thoughtfully.

When to Say No

Not every request deserves a yes. If you barely know the person, if you haven't worked closely enough to have a genuine opinion, or if you suspect they're hiding something significant from their application, decline politely. A recommendation from someone who can only speak generally is worse than no recommendation at all. It signals to the reader that nobody close to the candidate was willing to vouch for them substantively. There's also a scenario where you should write the letter but frame it carefully. I once had to recommend someone whose performance had declined significantly in recent months due to personal issues. The earlier work was excellent. The recent work was mediocre. I wrote about the earlier period in detail and acknowledged the recency of the recent work without dwelling on it. The candidate still got the role. The letter was honest, and honesty always serves everyone better than inflated praise.

The Bottom Line

Writing a strong recommendation takes about thirty minutes if you have the right materials and a clear structure. It takes three hours if you're starting from scratch, trying to recall details, and second-guessing whether your words will do justice to the person. Most of that wasted time comes from unclear thinking about what the letter is supposed to accomplish. Focus on evidence over enthusiasm. Match the candidate's strengths to the opportunity's requirements. Be specific, be honest, and be willing to stop short if you can't do both convincingly. That's really all there is to it.