How to Write a Recommendation Letter for a Supervisor

Writing a recommendation letter for anyone can get a little tricky. You want to be completely honest while still explaining the person’s qualifications, experience and personality traits accurately. If your supervisor has asked you to write a recommendation, then this can get a little more complicated. The best approach is to find positive things to say about your supervisor’s experience or training and stick with that. If you do not care for their management style, for example, simply leave it out of the recommendation letter.

Head the letter. Your name and contact information goes at the top so the recipient can contact you if needed. The name and contact information of the recipient goes next. Finally, add the date.

Include the salutation to the specific person you’re writing the recommendation letter to. If you’re not sure, ask your supervisor to provide you with this information.

Talk about who you are writing the recommendation letter for, your supervisor, first. Use your supervisor’s full name and mention how long you have worked together.

Include your qualifications for writing the letter. This might be how well you know the supervisor and how closely you worked together, such as if you worked together on specific projects in the past.

Write about the qualifications of your supervisor. Your supervisor can provide you with details that relate to the job being applied for. This can include education, special training, years in the industry, number of people being supervised, professional achievement and general personality traits, such as loyal, reliable, helpful, a good listener or problem solving abilities. Add specific examples to back up the qualifications you list.

Add some information that you think helps your supervisor stand out from other candidates. For example, if your supervisor always makes an effort to get everyone’s viewpoint and takes all suggestions before making final decisions, this could be something to emphasize in the recommendation letter.

Include one more key note of praise in the last paragraph, such as why the supervisor would be an asset to the department or team or why you think a particular personality trait makes the supervisor an exceptionally strong candidate. Sign your name under a closing and before your typed name.