Writing a letter of recommendation is a heavy lift. You’re basically holding someone’s career or academic future in your hands. It's stressful. Most people panic and immediately Google a generic format for a letter of recommendation, copy the first thing they see, and swap out the names. Honestly, that’s a mistake. Admission officers and hiring managers at places like Goldman Sachs or Harvard can spot a canned letter from a mile away. They see thousands of these. If yours looks like a Mad Libs project, it’s going in the trash.
You need to be real.
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A great recommendation isn't just about following a layout. It’s about the "delta"—the change that person created in your organization. If you aren't showing how they moved the needle, the format doesn't matter. But, because we live in a world of professional expectations, you do need a structure. You can’t just send a napkin note.
The basic bones of a professional letter
Let's talk about the physical setup. Use letterhead. If you’re writing for a former employee and you’re a VP at a tech firm, use the company letterhead. It adds immediate weight. It says "this is official."
The date comes first. Then, the recipient’s contact info. If you don't know who is reading it, "To Whom It May Concern" is fine, but "Dear Admissions Committee" or "Dear Hiring Manager" feels a bit more human. Don't overthink the salutation, just don't be weirdly casual. No "Hey."
The intro needs to be punchy. You have to state who you are and why you're qualified to talk about this person. If you were their direct supervisor for three years, say it. If you only worked with them on one project, be honest about that too. Credibility is everything.
Why the "How" matters more than the "What"
Most people spend way too much time listing duties. "John handled the social media accounts." Okay? So what? A better format for a letter of recommendation focuses on the impact of those duties.
Think about it this way:
Did John just "handle" the accounts, or did he grow the following by 40% while also managing a PR crisis during a product recall? That's the stuff that gets people hired. You've got to be a storyteller.
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Specificity is your best friend
I’ve read letters that say "Sarah is a hard worker and a team player."
Those words are dead. They mean nothing now.
Everyone says they are a team player. Even the people who eat their coworkers' labeled yogurt in the breakroom claim to be team players.
Instead of saying she's a hard worker, talk about the Tuesday night before a major launch when the server crashed and Sarah stayed until 3:00 AM to manually restore data. That is specificity. It’s a vivid image. When the reader closes their eyes, they should see Sarah working in that dark office.
The structure of the "Middle"
The body paragraphs—usually two of them—should be built around different themes.
Maybe paragraph one is about technical skill.
Paragraph two is about "soft skills" or leadership.
Don't try to cover everything. If you try to say they are a genius, a saint, an athlete, and a master chef, you’ll sound like you’re lying. Pick two or three traits that actually matter for the role they are applying for. If they want to be a data scientist, talk about their logic. If they want to be a nurse, talk about their empathy and composure under pressure.
- Paragraph 1: Professional competency and specific achievements.
- Paragraph 2: Character, reliability, and "vibe."
Dealing with the "Weakness" question
Sometimes a format for a letter of recommendation—especially for MBA programs—asks for areas of improvement. This is where people get tripped up. Don't say "they work too hard." That's a transparent, annoying cliché.
Instead, mention a genuine area of growth. "Early on, Mark struggled with delegating tasks because he wanted everything to be perfect. However, over the last year, he’s mentored two interns and learned to trust his team, which actually increased our department's total output."
This shows the candidate is human and capable of evolution. It makes your praise in the rest of the letter much more believable.
The closing and the "Call to Action"
The end of the letter shouldn't just trail off. You need to make a definitive statement. "I recommend them without reservation" is the gold standard phrase. It’s a bit of a cliché, sure, but it’s a powerful one. It tells the reader that you aren't just doing this as a favor—you genuinely believe in this person.
Give them your contact info. Say, "Feel free to reach out via phone or email if you want to chat more about their work." Most of the time, they won't call. But the fact that you offered shows you’re willing to put your own reputation on the line for this person. That’s a massive signal.
Technical things to remember
- Font: Stick to Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman. Don't use Comic Sans unless you're trying to sabotage them.
- Length: One page. Always one page. If it's shorter, it looks like you don't care. If it's longer, no one will read it.
- PDF: Always save it as a PDF. Word docs can get messy with formatting when opened on different devices.
Real-world example of the impact
I remember a guy, let's call him Dave. Dave was applying for a high-level engineering role at a major aerospace company. His old boss wrote a letter that followed the standard format for a letter of recommendation but added one specific detail: Dave had saved the company $200,000 in a single afternoon by spotting a flaw in a vendor's schematics that everyone else missed.
Dave got the job.
The hiring manager later told him that the "vendor schematic" story was the reason why. It proved Dave had the "eyes-on" attention to detail that the company desperately needed.
What most people get wrong
They get too formal.
They use words like "commensurate" and "heretofore."
Stop.
You are one human talking to another human. Even in a professional setting, we respond to warmth and sincerity. If you sound like a robot, the reader will assume the candidate is a robot too. Or worse, that you used an AI to write it because you didn't actually know the person well enough to write something real.
Navigating different types of letters
A letter for a grad school application looks different than one for a job at a startup.
For grad school, the format for a letter of recommendation should lean heavily on academic potential, research skills, and intellectual curiosity. Professors want to know if this student can handle the rigors of a thesis.
For a job, focus on reliability, culture fit, and ROI.
If you're writing for a "peer" (a coworker at the same level), focus on what it's like to be in the trenches with them. Are they the person you want next to you when a deadline is looming? That’s what a peer recommendation is for.
Actionable Next Steps
If you’re sitting down to write this right now, don't start with the "Dear..." line.
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- Ask the candidate for their resume and the specific job description. You need to know what keywords the employer is looking for.
- Jot down three "micro-stories." Little moments where they did something impressive. You’ll only use one or two, but have options.
- Draft the body first. It's the hardest part. Once the stories are down, the intro and outro are easy to plug in.
- Check the submission instructions. Does it need to be uploaded to a portal? Emailed directly? Mailed in a sealed envelope with a signature across the flap? Don't let a great letter go to waste because you missed a technicality.
- Proofread it twice. Typos in a recommendation letter are embarrassing for you and a red flag for the applicant. Use a tool or, better yet, read it out loud to yourself. If you stumble over a sentence, it's too long. Fix it.
The best format isn't a secret code. It's just a clean, professional way to tell a true story about someone's talent. Be honest, be specific, and keep it to one page. That's how you actually help someone get to the next level.