The One Letter That Matters: A Guide to the High-Impact Recommendation

These days, it feels like everyone knows someone who’s been laid off. If you’ve ever worked with a great team, as I have, you probably want to help your teammates land on their feet when they’re let go.

One of the best ways to help is by writing a Letter of Recommendation (LOR). But let’s be honest—almost anyone can get a generic letter. If you really want to help someone stand out, your letter needs to pack a punch.

A great recommendation isn’t just about saying someone is nice to work with. It’s about making it obvious why this person should be hired, no questions asked.

To do that, you really just need to focus on two things: Scope (how big was their job, really?) and Core Competencies (what skills would make them valuable anywhere?).

The Three Essential Paragraphs

Introduction & Scope (The Who and How Big)

Start your letter by saying how you know the person. For example: “I managed Rick Grimes for three years as the Director of Customer Support.”

Next, make it clear what the scope of their job actually was. Were they leading a small group or running the whole show? That matters to recruiters/hiring teams. For example: “Rick managed a team of 5 agents handling 5,000 tickets a month.”

Core Competencies (The Transferable Skills)

Now, pick out two or three big skills they brought to the table. Things like leadership, problem-solving, or just making everything run smoothly.

Here’s the part that really matters: back up those skills with real numbers or stories.

Now you need to show how Rick actually used those skills. Don’t be timid about including specific stats. As an example, you’d include something like: “Rick consistently scored 98% in documentation accuracy, indicating a high level of accountability.”

When you get to this part, try using the STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result). It’s a simple way to turn vague compliments into real proof.

That would look something like, “When we committed to moving from WHCMS to Zendesk (Situation), Rick was tasked with ensuring the seamless migration of our entire historical ticket database (Task). Rick took ownership of the technical strategy and conducted a cost-benefit analysis of three migration vendors versus an in-house-engineered script (Action). By proactively developing the in-house script, he not only saved the company over $8,000 in vendor fees but also ensured 100% data integrity across 50,000 historical records, successfully completing the entire migration 24 hours ahead of schedule (Result).”

This kind of format turns a sentence like “Rick is great at managing projects” into real proof that he’s a strategic planner who saves money.

Weak Adjective (Remove)	Stronger Statement (General & Quantifiable)
Detail-oriented	Maintained a documentation compliance rate of 99%.
Excellent work ethic	Required zero performance management intervention in three years.
Great with customers	Achieved a personalized CSAT score of 95%.
Quick learner	Independently master our CRM platform in less than two weeks.

Content Guide: General Metrics vs. Vague Adjectives

The main thing to remember is to talk about what they can actually do, not just who they are as a person.

Here are some ideas of things to include:

• Average CSAT/NPS score under their leadership
• Size of the team they managed
• Complex projects they led
• Average First Contact Resolution (FCR) rate they maintained.
• Metrics training or documentation
• Their score on internal peer feedback or leadership effectiveness surveys.
• The average time-to-competency metric for the new hires they onboarded.
• The number of overtime hours they reduced due to improved scheduling or queue management.
• The reduction in average Handle Time (AHT) they drove through specific process changes.
• Any measurable improvements to the Knowledge Base (KB) (e.g., number of articles written/updated, or reduction in deflection rate).

The Conclusion and Assurance (The Endorsement)

At the end, say straight out that you recommend them and would hire them again in a heartbeat. And don’t forget to add your contact info, just in case someone wants to follow up.

Ethical & Practical Considerations

Never use a single, mass-produced LOR!

At the very least, swap out the core skills and numbers so they actually match what the person did.

Also, don’t include any confidential information, such as salary details.

And one last thing: use your own letterhead or a plain document, not anything with the old company’s logo or information.

Giving Them the Tool to Land the Job

A strong, general LOR is kind of like a Swiss Army knife. It gives your teammate the context and credibility they need to go after all kinds of jobs.

Give them both an unsigned PDF and a signed hard copy, so they can use whichever one works best for them.

It’s tough out there in the job market right now. But writing a strong LOR for someone you really believe in can make a huge difference.