Letter of recommendation template: a sample to copy and how to write your own

Example letter

Copy the letter

Example

Denise Walker

Operations Manager, Riverbend Medical Supply

1450 Commerce Drive, Columbus, OH 43219

denise.walker@example.com · (614) 555-0128

November 10, 2026

Hiring Committee

Lakeshore Health Partners

Cleveland, OH

Re: Letter of recommendation for Marcus Reed

Dear Hiring Committee,

I am pleased to recommend Marcus Reed for the position of Inventory Supervisor at Lakeshore Health Partners. I have been Marcus's direct manager at Riverbend Medical Supply for the past three years, where he works as a Senior Inventory Specialist in our main warehouse.

Marcus is the most reliable planner on my team. When a supplier recall forced us to pull 1,200 items from our shelves in March, he organized the count, traced every affected order and had replacement stock moving to our hospital clients within 48 hours. Last year, he also rebuilt our reorder points for 300 products, which cut emergency orders by about a third.

He is just as good with people. Marcus trained five new hires this year, wrote the checklists our night shift still uses, and is the person our clients ask for by name when a delivery goes wrong. He stays calm under pressure and always tells me about a problem before it grows.

I recommend Marcus without reservation. He is ready to lead a team, and I am confident he will be an asset to Lakeshore. Please feel free to contact me at (614) 555-0128 or denise.walker@example.com if you would like more information.

Sincerely,

Denise Walker

This letter of recommendation template fits the most common case: a manager recommending a current or former employee for a new job. Replace the names, titles, dates and examples with your own. The two body paragraphs are the part that matters: one for the candidate's results, one for how they work with others.

Print it on company letterhead if you have it, sign it by hand above your typed name, or send it as a PDF if the employer asked for an email or an upload. You can copy this template without signing up.

Prefer to start from a blank structure? Fill in each bracket and delete the ones that don't apply:

A letter of recommendation, or recommendation letter, is a letter in which someone who has supervised, taught or worked with a person vouches for their skills and character for a specific opportunity: a job, an internship, a graduate program, a scholarship or an award. It is written by the recommender, not by the candidate, and it usually goes straight to the employer or the school.

In practice, many people use “letter of recommendation” and “reference letter” for the same thing. If you're building a list of names for your resume instead, see our guide to references on a resume.

Before you write, ask the candidate for their resume, the job posting or program description, the deadline, and how to submit the letter. The University of Chicago's career office suggests also asking for anything the employer wants you to address and for copies of the work they did for you. Then follow this order:

1. Your contact details and the date, or your organization's letterhead.
2. The greeting: the recipient's name if you know it, “Dear Hiring Committee” or “Dear Admissions Committee” if you don't. Use “To whom it may concern” only for a general letter the candidate will reuse.
3. The introduction: who you are, your title, how you know the candidate and for how long, and the position or program you recommend them for.
4. The proof, one or two paragraphs: two or three strengths that match the opportunity, each backed by a specific example. Numbers and outcomes beat adjectives.
5. A comparison, if you can make it honestly: how the candidate ranks among the people you've managed or taught.
6. The endorsement: a clear sentence, like “I recommend her without reservation.”
7. Your contact information: an email and a phone number, so the reader can follow up.
8. Your signature, typed name and title.

Keep it to one page. The University of Chicago gives one page as a good target for most letters of recommendation unless the employer asks otherwise, with an introduction, two or three body paragraphs and a closing.

Each sample below replaces the body of the letter of recommendation template above. The header, greeting, closing and signature stay the same.

• Personal details that have nothing to do with the job: age, health, pregnancy, religion, family situation, national origin. The EEOC states that it is illegal for an employer to give a negative or false employment reference, or to refuse to give one, because of a person's race, color, religion, sex (including transgender status, sexual orientation and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.
• Anything you can't back up. Write what you saw. Exaggerations are easy to spot and can backfire on the candidate.
• Faint praise. “He was always on time” reads as “there was nothing else to say.”
• Generic text. A letter that could be about anyone helps no one. Name a project, a number, a moment.

Check your employer's policy before you write on company letterhead: some companies send all reference requests to human resources (HR). If you can't recommend someone honestly, it's kinder to decline and suggest a better-placed recommender.

Letters for college and graduate school. Under the federal student privacy law (FERPA), a student can waive the right to read confidential letters of recommendation for admission, employment or an honor. The waiver must be in writing and signed by the student, a school can't require it as a condition of admission, and the student can still ask for the names of the people who wrote the letters. Many application forms ask the student to check a box for or against the waiver: talk about it with your recommender before you choose.

• One page, single-spaced, with a blank line between paragraphs.
• A readable font at 10.5 to 12 points and margins of about 1 inch.
• Letterhead when you write as a manager or a professor: a recommendation letter on letterhead shows the reader where you work.
• A PDF named after the candidate (for example, “Marcus-Reed-recommendation.pdf”), unless the employer or school asks for another format.
• Your signature: handwritten on a printed letter, typed name and title on a PDF or an online form.

If you're the candidate, you rarely write the letter yourself, but you can make it much better:

1. Ask the right person: someone who saw your work closely and recently, rather than the most senior name you know.
2. Ask early, ideally a few weeks before the deadline, and ask “Would you feel comfortable writing me a strong letter?” It gives them an easy way out.
3. Send everything in one email: your resume, the job posting or program page, the deadline, how to submit, and two or three things you'd like them to mention, with examples.
4. Offer this letter of recommendation template if they ask for one, but never write the letter for them unless they ask you to draft it.
5. Say thank you after they submit it, and tell them how it turned out.

When the letter is on its way, finish the rest of your application. The other work letters are on the letter templates page, and if you're leaving your job, the resignation letter template is there too.