{"id":45118,"date":"2024-12-03T09:26:29","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T15:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/?page_id=45118"},"modified":"2026-06-25T10:46:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T15:46:52","slug":"letters-of-recommendation-and-references","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/how-to-guides\/letters-of-recommendation-and-references\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter of Recommendation and Reference Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-modular-content-collection>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">What is a letter of recommendation?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>A letter of recommendation is a letter to a potential employer, organization, or program that emphasizes your strengths and casts your professional attitude or work ethic in a positive light.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">What is a professional reference?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>A reference is a statement given by a professor, supervisor, or colleague to a potential employer, organization, or program. When giving a reference, the referee will share insight about your former employment, internship, research, or other experiences.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/files\/2024\/03\/References-example_2024.pdf\" class=\"btn\">SAMPLE REFERENCE SHEET<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who should you ask?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>When deciding who to ask for a letter of recommendation or a reference, consider the following questions:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Is the person&#8217;s academic or professional area relevant to your work or area of study?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Does the person know you well enough to say substantive things about you?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Examples of typical recommenders and referees for college students can include:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Current or previous work supervisors<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Professors, administrators, or advisors<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Leaders in organizations where you volunteer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>If you ask a professor for a letter of recommendation, consider filling out&nbsp;this <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/files\/2019\/07\/Request_for_Letter_of_Recommendation.pdf\">request form<\/a> to make the process easier for the writer and identify why you chose them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When asking&#8230;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Before asking for a recommendation or reference, take the time to prepare:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A reminder of how you know the person and when you met<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A description of the job or program you are applying for<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A copy of your resume<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Accomplishments, projects, or papers you have completed for the person<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A list of particular skills, traits, or experiences you would like the recommender or referee to highlight<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Watch <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lynda.com\/Business-Skills-tutorials\/Asking-recommendation\/156089\/175852-4.html\">this video<\/a> for ideas and guidance on what to say when asking for a recommendation or reference.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Allow at least two weeks&#8217; notice to serve as a reference and two months to write a letter of recommendation.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Read through this page about <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/english\/how-to-ask-a-professor-for-a-letter-of-recommendation\/\">how to ask a professor for a letter of recommendation<\/a> for a more detailed timeline for requesting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Be sure to send a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themuse.com\/advice\/3-thank-you-note-templates-youll-have-to-use-throughout-your-career\">thank you note<\/a> to the recommender or referee afterwards and let them know the outcome of your application.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><!-- begin-migrated-from-panel-builder --><!-- end-migrated-from-panel-builder --><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is a letter of recommendation? A letter of recommendation is a letter to a potential employer, organization, or program that emphasizes your strengths and casts your professional attitude or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8325,"featured_media":0,"parent":17157,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-45118","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/45118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45118"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/45118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52515,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/45118\/revisions\/52515"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}