Referral Letter
Recommended formats: Paragraph style; bullet style
When you are writing a referral letter, you are writing to a particular individual at a company or recruiting firm at the recommendation of someone else. These letters can be very similar in style and strategy to cold-call letters.You're not sure whether the company has a specific need for someone with your talents. You don't necessarily know the company's situation. Is it on a growth track? Is it downsizing? Does it have new products to introduce? Is it making money? Is it losing money? So, just as with the cold-call letter discussed earlier, these letters are often more "general" in his or her presentation and not necessarily focused on a particular position. As mentioned previously, you want to give your reader a broad-based introduction to who you are, what expertise and qualifications you have, and why you would be valuable to the organization.
| Tip.- For a referral letter to be effective, the person who referred you must be immediately recognizable to the reader because of name, company affiliation, or status within the business community or industry. There are no exceptions! If not, the impact of your letter is negated, and its value is nonexistent. |
Referral letters can work for individuals at all levels. For the senior executive, a referral letter can highlight contributions to revenue and profit growth, strategic leadership, organizational development, turnaround, and other senior-level functions. For the college graduate, a referral letter can focus on academic performance, internships, leadership, enthusiasm, and interest in the organization. The message might change, but the strategy remains the same: "Sell" who you are in a broad-brush fashion in the hope that something within the breadth of your experience will capture your reader's attention.
Characteristics
Referral letters are characterized by the following:- Introduction. All referral letters begin with an immediate reference to the person who referred you to that organization. This is the single distinguishing qualification of referral letters.
- General in composition. Because you do not know whether the company is hiring, or for what types of positions, it is best to sell as much about yourself, your experience, and your career as possible.
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