Recommendation Letter Draft for Recent Graduates

What a good one includes

• A clear opening statement establishing the context and duration of your relationship with the recommender.
• Specific, quantifiable examples of your academic or internship achievements, such as a major project completed or a workflow improved.
• A direct connection between your past performance and the key skills required for your target job or graduate program.
• An assessment of your soft skills, highlighting traits like leadership, dependability, and collaboration with concrete examples.
• A strong, unequivocal statement of endorsement recommending you for the specific role or program.
• A professional closing that invites the recipient to contact the recommender for further details.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Writing in a voice that sounds too much like a student instead of adopting the professional tone of a supervisor or academic mentor.
• Keeping the praise too vague and generic, which makes the letter feel templated and unconvincing to hiring managers.
• Forgetting to align the highlighted skills with the specific industry or graduate program you are targeting.
• Making the letter excessively long when a concise, high-impact single page is much more effective.

Frequently asked questions