Let’s face it, no one’s getting a job these days without a top notch recommendation letter. The job market is getting ever more cutthroat by the day, with hundreds if not thousands of applicants vying for a handful of openings. And while a by-the-numbers recommendation letter might cut it if you’re lucky, they often mean leaving the candidate’s standout qualities on the cutting room floor. In this guide, we’re going to be outlining best practices for tailoring recommendation letters based on the job or industry the candidate is applying to.

Why Tailored Recommendation Letters Work Best

No one’s going through recommendation letters word by word, simply because no one has the time. And yet, boilerplate letters still do more harm than good, mostly because they fail to provide what hiring managers are looking for: concise examples of why the candidate is a good fit for that specific role. 83% of recruiters say that they’re more likely to hire a candidate with a tailored cover letter or resume, so the benefits speak for themselves.

The candidate’s academic background is all well and good, but what experience do they have in the role they’re applying for? If they lack experience, what, if any, adjacent experience have they acquired? Do they possess any relevant skills? These are questions hiring managers are looking to answer, so it’s essential to address them in the letter.

Here’s a step by step process you can follow:

Step 1 - Gather Information

Displaying a genuine familiarity with the candidate can significantly improve the recommendation letter’s credibility. Mention their background and reference key skills relevant to their desired role, and optimize it according to the requirements of the job, the needs of the wider industry, and the candidate’s achievements.

For example, let’s say you have an employee named Sarah who’s applying for a marketing manager role at a major tech startup. This type of employer likely emphasizes data-driven strategies and inter-department collaboration. Reviewing Sarah’s resume, you find out that she ran a successful email marketing campaign. Including this fact is a good start, but you should also dig a little deeper. How was the campaign successful? Incorporating metrics can considerably boost this hypothetical employee’s prospects, such as CRO, open rates, and more.

You can also talk to Sarah directly. Why? To assess her soft skills and see how they fit into her prospective employer’s corporate culture. You can highlight her capacity for collaboration, her adaptability, or anything else that fits the bill. It’s not all about metrics and profits. Hiring managers want to know how the person they’re assessing will fit into their company culture, and how they can contribute beyond the scope of their role as well.

Step 2 - Create the Structure

Any good recommendation letter starts with a short intro of the recommendation letter writer. Who are you? What is your relationship to the candidate? Follow this up with a brief overview of their main strengths and you’ve got a solid intro good to go.

Next come the body paragraphs, in which you highlight the candidate’s skills, achievements and experience. Make sure you only include information that matches job requirements. Most hiring managers skim rather than read thoroughly, so trimming any fat is necessary to ensure they get the most relevant information.

For example, say John from software dev is applying for a cloud engineering role at a reputable finance firm. John likely has experience in several key areas, but in his recommendation letter, it’s best to stick references to cloud migration projects he’s worked on. Anything that combines role-relevant experience with achievements pertaining to the company’s broader operations is also useful.

Step 3 - Add Tonal Nuance and Industry Specific Language

In the aforementioned example, John may have helped your company reduce server costs by implementing new AWS architecture. This is relevant both to the cloud engineering role as well as a finance firm’s cost-conscious culture. Other details like regulatory compliance, internal policy compliance, and adherence to security best practices can also be included. Think broadly about John’s role at the company and what makes him a good fit for his desired role with a new employer.

Adjust tone and language based on the industry being applied to. In some cases, the recommendation letter might not be needed for a job at all. Your employee might be applying to a fellowship at a university, in which case you’d incorporate academic references and data points.

On the other hand, say an employee named Jane is applying for a designer role at a creative startup. A versatile recommendation writer would know to adopt a more casual and conversational tone, highlighting creative decisions that led to tangible, quantifiable results.

Step 4 - Personalization

This is where you can include relevant, memorable anecdotes that position the candidate as uniquely suited for the role. For example, if you’re writing a recommendation for a project manager named Sam, you can mention their experience managing a platform rollout and how many users they onboarded during that process. Specificity helps always, so be sure to mention what the nature of the platform was, what kinds of users it catered to, and how the candidate managed growth.

In Sam’s case, they may have worked on a telehealth platform. You can refer to signups as “patients” to make their achievements more industry-specific, which would open up doors in the health field even if their prior experience is a bit broader.

In a nutshell, hiring managers need to see what the candidate has achieved, and how this applies to their desired role. Calling them a hard worker, a team player, or other kinds of generic praise can actually detract from the recommendation letter’s effectiveness. Hiring managers have limited time, so packing as much niche-specific and role-relevant information as possible is critical here. Instead of saying Emily’s a hard worker, say something like “Emily consistently went above and beyond to analyze client data, resulting in 10% savings for our biggest client”. A little effort in this regard goes a really long way.

Step 5 - Scan for Common Mistakes

There are a few things to look out for, especially when it comes to spelling and grammar. These types of things can easily slip under the radar, particularly when your focus is on the quality of the information you’re adding to the letter. Regardless, grammatical mistakes and spelling errors can compromise your letter’s trustworthiness, so it pays to do a quick spell check before you hand it over.

Also, fact check the statistics and metrics you’ve included. A misplaced decimal point or a typo can make a candidate’s achievements seem underwhelming or unbelievable through no fault of their own, and, if nothing else, can make your letter come across as sloppy or hastily written. Pay close attention to phrasing as well, since this plays a significant role in how effective your recommendation letter can be. A good rule of thumb is to read the letter out loud to help catch phrasing issues and repetitive statements.

Hiring a recommendation letter writing service can be a huge help here, allowing you to outsource the final proofread or even the entire letter writing process if you’re strapped for time. It’s a good way to tend to an outgoing employee’s needs while still balancing your own workload.

Step 6 - Add a Call to Action

Recommendation letters are important for many reasons, one of which is that they give recruiters a contact to further evaluate a candidate’s suitability for a role. A call to action is a core part of this. Don’t make the mistake of signing off with a curt “Sincerely, Name”. A good sign off is warm and leaves the door open for a continued conversation, or for the recruiter to ask you any questions they might have.

A “Please feel free to reach out” can come across as more inviting, and indicates that this isn’t a generic recommendation. Adding specifics about questions you might expect, such as questions regarding Sarah’s email marketing skills, John’s cloud migration expertise, or Sam’s success in project management. Aim for a warm and inviting tone, one that outlines next steps hiring managers can take to reach out rather than something impersonal or unsupportive.

Final Thoughts

To reiterate, tailored, detail-rich letters indicate that your endorsement is genuine, and help hiring managers quickly assess a candidate’s fit. On the other hand, suboptimal, generic letters often get ignored, wasting a valuable opportunity to stand out. Including a recommendation at all is a good first step, but pertinent details that describe a candidate’s distinct qualities and achievements can boost callbacks and interview prospects all while taking just a bit of extra time on your part.

And if there’s just no time to be had, if your schedule really is so jam-packed that you can’t squeeze any recommendation writing into it, there’s a whole industry of experts to turn to. This isn’t about altruism, it’s about good human resource management, and ensuring that outgoing employees leave on a positive note.