A human resource reference or HR recommendation letter evaluates the personal characteristics, skills, achievements, and qualities of a person seeking employment in an HR position. The reference letter indicates why you are best suited for the human resource position and of your qualities for that position.
The referee or writer has to have played a supervisory role and could be a former employer, co-worker, professor, lecturer and sometimes even religious leader. What matters is that the referee has to know the professional and personal capabilities of the person they are recommending.
Sample Human Resources Reference Letters
Purpose and Benefits
The sole purpose of a human resource letter is to vouch for a person’s qualification for the position of human resource personnel. This is done by positive remarks of the referee’s assessment of your characteristics and their view of your professionalism. This together with academic qualifications is enough to guarantee the security of the job sought.
The other ultimate benefit is to convince the potential employer of your reliability through word of confidence from a reliable source.
Contents of a Professional HR Reference Letter
The ultimate letter of human resource recommendation letter must entail, the description of the job seeker, an expression of the relationship of the referee and the job seeker, their professional experience, their achievements. It should also include the strengths of the candidate all these as relevant as possible to the position of human resource personnel. What is paramount however is to be truthful and positive.
HR Reference Letter Format
The letter should be as brief as possible but pointing out the necessary details.
- Letter Head: This should contain the address of the referee and their contact. The date of writing the letter and salutation.
- First Paragraph: This paragraph very briefly sets out the relationship between the writer and the person they are recommending. It also includes the reason why the referee is best qualified to recommend the job seeker, and it should all be written in the first person.
- Body of the Letter: This paragraph goes into detail about the skills of the job seeker, their strengths, and weaknesses, their achievements in the field of human resources. It is also worth mentioning any outstanding personal traits. To add weight to the information provided, the referee can narrate instances when they interacted with the candidate or observed the qualities they are vouching for. Giving this example adds weight to the information given and adds a personal touch to the recommendation, which is important.
- Summary: At this point, the writer can give a summary of the person they are recommending, their qualities and achievements.
- Conclusion: In this last paragraph, the referee states about their sincerity in recommending the candidate and vouches for the job seeker by using phrases such as “highly recommend”. Then sign off with a signature. They can also provide their contacts and email through which they can be reached for verification.
It is important to note that a human resource reference letter should not be exaggerated or include information that is not true. Information that is provided should be able to be verifiable from the resume. This being a letter for recommendation for an HR position, all information included should always be relevant to this field or be as close as possible to the position of Human Resource personnel.
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