Tips that will help you write a recommendation letter

help you write a recommendation letter.Introduce yourself and state your position. Say how you know the candidate and how long you have known him or her. Outline the candidates skills that are relevant for the position, and any relevant experience. Give a brief description of his or her personal qualities, for example, helpful, calm, etc.

Tips that will help you write a recommendation letter

We have compiled some power tips that can help you get the style, tone, content, and presentation of your recommendation letter just right:

Introduce yourself and state your position

Say how you know the candidate and how long you have known him or her

Outline the candidate's skills that are relevant for the position, and any relevant experience

Give a brief description of his or her personal qualities, for example, helpful, calm, etc

Mention how the person interacts with others, for example, a good team player, considerate of colleagues, etc

Say why, in your opinion, the candidate is suitable for the position and what you believe he or she could offer the organization

Emphasize anything outstanding about the candidate For example: What are their particular talents?

Mention any important gaps in the candidate's skills or knowledge

The person you are writing the letter for (the candidate) has asked for your

recommendation as he or she feels you know him or her sufficiently well The candidate believes you would be pleased to support his or her application These tips are for a generic recommendation letter, but they can also be applied to writing

a college recommendation letter for an academic position or an employee

recommendation letter to help them land a top job in the business world Your aim should be to provide support by giving a positive but balanced summary of the person and his or her skills and qualities

Strike a balance in your letter of recommendation

It is important that your letter be written in a balanced manner Although the focus

of your recommendation letter should be on the good things about the candidate, the person you are writing to needs to know if the candidate needs particular help

in any area You may be concerned about writing something that seems negative, but as long as you present your views in a positive way, highlighting an area where the candidate needs to improve, your comment should not be detrimental

For example, imagine you are writing the recommendation letter for a student (let's call him John) who has difficulties meeting deadlines You have already talked to John about this, and he is now working on his time management and organizational skills You feel it is right to mention this in the recommendation letter as it is a fairly big problem for John, and you know he will need ongoing support while he develops these skills

One way to approach this could be to write:

"John has many skills and qualities that I have mentioned above However, to ensure he can achieve his long-term goals, he will need further support to develop his time management and organizational skills He has been working hard to

improve these skills over the last year, and I have already seen some

improvement."

Remember, your reputation for giving an honest recommendation is also

important

Recommendation letter format

Now we have looked at the content; what about the recommendation letter format?

The letter should be a standard formal letter with your contact details and the date

at the top of the letter Times New Roman font always looks very professional, and the font size should be 11 or 12 point You should address the recommendation letter directly to the person responsible for the application or to the Human

Resources department if you don't have a name (in the case of a company) In the case of other types of organizations, you can address the letter "To Whom It May Concern." However, it is always best to get the candidate to provide you with a contact name if possible

Try not to write an excessively long letter of recommendation A page should be sufficient, as the candidate will also have completed an application form and/or submitted a resume or curriculum vitae

Be mindful of your tone

The tone of a recommendation letter should be professional, with content that is easy to read and clear in meaning You should show the reader that you are

approachable and would be pleased to provide more help or information You can

do this by adding the following sentence at the end of your letter:

"Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information."

Make an impression with the presentation of your recommendation letter

Sometimes it may help to look at a recommendation letter example to see exactly how this letter should look And nothing looks more unprofessional than a

recommendation letter with spelling, grammar, or punctuation mistakes, and poor attention to detail, so consider having it professionally proofread before sending it in

Write response to the hotel’s complaint

KEY CONCEPT:

A customer making a complaint is a dissatisfied customer

When we respond to a complaint, our aims are:

• to make our customer satisfied;

• to make our customer loyal

We can do this by:

• showing we have listened and understood the complaint, and that we take it seriously;

• explaining how the problem arose;

• explaining what action we will take to remedy the situation;

• making an offer

Understanding the letter of complaint

In the last lesson you wrote a letter of complaint about a hotel stay Compare your letter to the letter below

Dear Mr Geiger

I am writing to complain about my visit to your hotel I stayed with you for two nights on the 25th and 26th May this year and I am dissatisfied with the service I received

Your website claims that guests receive a warm welcome, but when I arrived at reception on the first night I had to wait 25 minutes before a receptionist helped me

I had booked a double room with an en-suite bathroom through the Internet, but there were no en-suite rooms available so I had to use the bathroom in the corridor

The website also says the hotel is comfortable and relaxing But my room was too hot and at night there was construction noise from outside

I often visit your city and stay overnight for business While your hotel is near the centre and therefore convenient, I will have to stay somewhere else if the service does not improve I hope you will provide better service next time

Yours sincerely

Rosalind Lee

The visitor had four problems List them below:

a

b

c

d

Now check your answers below

a long wait at reception

b booked room was not available

c room was too hot

d room was too noisy

Responding to a complaint

As the hotel manager you want the visitor to return What explanation can you give for the problems? What can you offer the visitor in the future? Match the points you will make in the letter to their purpose below

• explanation

• offer

• remedial action

• show you have listened

• apology

Point

Purpose

I was sorry to hear of the problems you experienced during your recent stay at our hotel

Some of our staff were sick that evening

Renovation meant that we had to close the West wing, resulting in a shortage of rooms

Unfortunately, the room you were offered was in the old section, and not to the same standard as our executive rooms

The renovation works are now complete and we think you will now find our

accommodation to be of an exceptional standard

On behalf of Crown Hotels, I would like to offer our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience these problems have caused you

In order that you can experience the new accommodation first hand, I would like to offer you two nights in our newly renovated executive rooms at the basic room rate

of $50

I also enclose a free voucher for dinner for two at our newly refitted restaurant

Writing Practice:

Use the information in the table to write a letter to the guest

• Show you take the complaint seriously

• Explain how the problems arose

• Apologise

• Make an offer

Remember: you want to make a dissatisfied customer into a satisfied and loyal customer!

ANSWERS:

Purpose

Point

Purpose

I was sorry to hear of the problems you experienced during your recent stay at our hotel

Show you have listened / apology

Some of our staff were sick that evening

Explanation

Renovation meant that we had to close the West wing, resulting in a shortage of rooms

Explanation

Unfortunately, the room you were offered was in the old section, and not to the same standard as our executive rooms

Explanation

The renovation works are now complete and we think you will now find our accommodation of an exceptional standard

Remedial action

On behalf of Crown Hotels, I would like to offer our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience these problems have caused you

Apology

In order that you can experience the new accommodation I would like to offer you two nights in our newly renovated executive rooms at the basic room rate of $50 Offer

I also enclose a free voucher for dinner for two in our newly refitted restaurant Offer

Letter

The letter below is one possible letter Compare it to the one you wrote

Dear Ms Lee

I was sorry to hear of the problems you experienced during your recent stay at our hotel We pride ourselves on the standard of our service and I have carried out an investigation to find out how we fell short this time

We are always looking to improve the standard of service we can provide and as part of this programme we undertook an extensive renovation programme in May, the time of your stay This renovation meant that we had to close the West wing, resulting in a shortage of rooms Unfortunately, the room that you were offered was in the old section, and not to the same standard as our executive rooms

On the night of your stay, some of our staff were sick, resulting in delays in

checking in

The renovation works are now complete and we think you will now find our

accommodation to be of an exceptional standard

On behalf of Crown Hotels, I would like to offer our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience that these problems have caused you In order that you can

experience the new accommodation first hand, I would like to offer you two nights

in our newly renovated executive rooms at the basic room rate of $50 I also

enclose a free voucher for dinner for two in our newly refitted restaurant, with our compliments

We hope that you will take advantage of our offer and stay with us again We look forward to seeing you soon

Yours sincerely

Roger Geiger

Customer Services Manager