Such letters are bias in general.

If your supervisor has written something negative, will you rely on that to show your future employer?
If you are not close to your supervisor, will you ask from them for a letter?

If not, you can almost be certain that most employers will not put much consideration in these letters.

Reference will be better for the employer. The reason is you can be kept out of the loop of exchange of information between the referee and your future interviewer.

posted 3 months ago

They can't hurt but most refrences are mainly used to make sure that facts on your CV are corrent.

Date of start/leave, basic salary details and job title.

The thing with refrences and letters of recommendation, is they are written by the person that you choose, so are never going to say anything bad so can't be trusted to give a balanaced overview.

Especially a letter of recommendation, you would get more out of a telephone conversation as you might be able to ask probing questions but this can give false information as it depends how comfertable the other person is on the phone.

posted 3 months ago

This is an excellent plan of action, asking past employers for letters of recommendation. I do believe one letter I had years ago tipped the hiring decision in my favor.

But if you are applying online, then list your references at the end of your resume, and mention that you have personal letters of recommendation beside each references name. If the employer wants to see them they will ask.

Applying in person, I would create a professional looking folder and include the letters, along with your resume and portfolio, if one is needed.

Good luck in your job search!

Denise Grier

Links:

• http://denisekincy.wordpress.com

posted 3 months ago

Letters of recommendation is not necessarily more effective than references. They are 2 entirely different documents and they serve a different purpose. Collecting letters of recommendations is an excellent idea. To be effective in your interviewing strategy, I would hope you have them both readily available.

Letters of recommendations are written by professionals you had worked with, whether direct supervisors, managers, or colleagues. It should be in letter format explaining reasons why they would recommend you as a future employee, supported by facts of your on-the-job achievements.

A reference list, on the other hand, is developed by the employee and is nothing more than a "list of references." It contains contact information, i.e. names, addresses, phone numbers, and/or email addresses of professionals that you would want the future employer to contact to get positive feedback of your past or present employment.

Neither references nor letters of recommendations are to be presented to the hiring manager prior to an interview. You should bring copies of both and present to a hiring manager during the interview or immediately following. This will demonstrate your professionalism and just might tip the scale in your favor, especially if the manager is undecided between two strong candidates.

Links:

• http://www.resumepros4less.com/

posted 3 months ago

Yes.

Once given, the giver cannot
contradict themselves later.
:-)

posted 3 months ago

Andrew's answer is the best suggestion.

posted 3 months ago

I prefer references, as they should have no bias attached to them, however some years ago I worked for a company that went bust and I got the MD to write me a general recommendation - just in case he couldn't be traced after the company went down,

posted 3 months ago

SG,

From the eyes of a hiring manager, references may be more valuable than letters of recommendation because the hiring manager has the ability to hopefully speak with your former employer (s) to gather first hand information regarding your abilities and performance.

However, letters of recommendation do have value. They show initiative on your part to secure a positive endorsement from a former employer. A letter of recommendation is a partial endorsement but the reference can seal the deal. When securing a letter of recommendation, try to obtain one from the most senior level manager as possible. It is also beneficial if the author offers his/her contact information as a willingness to speak directly with the hiring manager.

Keep in mind a lot of this is subjective based on the value that each hiring manager places on both the letter and the reference.

There is no need to choose between one or the other. Always get a letters of recommendation if you can and bring them to your interviews in order to present them upon request - or, if the situation arises, volunteer them.

All My Best,
Marjorie Kavanagh
President
Panoramic Resumes

posted 3 months ago

It's important to understand that a letter of recommendation is inherently a reference. My personal belief is that even though reference-checking is a formality, the references (written or otherwise) are not by themselves very effective at helping candidates land jobs - and here's why.

Most employers understand that candidates provide only those references they know will give nothing less than glowing recommendations. They realize that references are unlikely to share any information that can be deemed as negative -- primarily because they are biased and want to do whatever they can to help the candidate, but also because of legal issues that surround the entire reference-checking process. As such, most employers expect that references will only verify all the great things that the candidate has said about himself / herself during the interview and on his / her resume.

Moreover, the trend these days is for most companies to prohibit their employees from providing professional references of any kind -- either by phone or in writing -- because of the legal risks. Employers know this, and even if a candidate provides a reference who is willing to violate his / her company's policy, the chances are that this reference will refrain from sharing any constructive criticism for fear that the information may be used to eliminate the candidate from consideration. If this were to happen, and the candidte decided to question the legality of company's interviewing practices after being eliminated from the selection process, the "negative" reference (even if it wasn't intended to be negative) could be called into question. Companies do not want to expose their employees to this type of scrutiny, and as a result, most companies require its employees to only verify position title and dates of employment.

I'm not trying to say references are unimportant, because I know that most interviewers will ask for them at some point. However, based on what I shared above, I do recommend that you deempasize the importance of which references you provide, and whether or not those references are in writing -- and instead focus on becoming as fluent as possible in answering competency-based behavioral and situational interview questions for the position for which you're interviewing. Whether or not you get the job is based much more on your performance in the interview than what your references say about you. Also, remember that if you flunk the interview, references of any form won't matter -- and if you ace the interview, you will likely be a top candidate regardless of whether or not your references are in writing.

posted 3 months ago

You should ask them what they are going to say about you. That way you will know if you still want a recommendation. Also the older the relationship the less weight it carries in landing a job. So I may not go back too far.
I had a good relationship with my manager at a startup company. He was fired for sexual harassment, would he be a good reference? I wouldn't use him.
Recommendations can be a two edge sword that can help and they can hurt.

posted 2 months ago