Career Services
| Guidelines For Reference Writers | How can Career Services help? |
Employers and graduate school admissions officers look at your recommendations to gain insight into a candidate's academic performance, related skills, and personal character. Consequently academic and professional competence and potential are the most appropriate areas to address in your recommendations.
The following items should be included in a written reference:
- A statement about the nature of your relationship to the candidate - professional, personal references or academic - and how long you have known her or him. In the case of an employee or intern, indicate the job title(s), areas of responsibility held, and the time period involved.
- A review of the candidate's principal achievements.
- A description of the candidate's academic or career growth and potential, directed toward the purpose of the letter, i.e., as a graduate student (academic ability, research ability, attitude towards study, potential as a future original contributor to the field, etc.) as a teacher (dedication to the profession, creativity, ability to engage and excite students in the learning process, etc.) or as an employee (knowledge of the discipline, ability to apply theory to practice, related general skills, originality, enthusiasm, and commitment to the field, etc.).
- A paragraph that addresses the personal dimensions of the candidate which indicate promise as a future colleague, i.e., how well he or she gets along with others, and his or her level of reliability and responsibility.
- The closing paragraph should summarize the candidate's outstanding strengths and abilities. Also, indicating your willingness to respond to a request for further discussion of your comments is always helpful.
Unless the student asks for a letter written to a specific school or employer, it is best to write a generic letter. Students will usually ask you to send your letter to Career Services to be included in their reference file. Your letter can then be used for several colleges or employers.
View our presentation on Graduate School
Learn how to set up Reference Files
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| Fax: 518-437-4906 | Email: career@uamail.albany.edu |