writing a letter of recommendation for a colleague

You don't have to be somebody's boss to write her a recommendation letter. You might have a coworker ask you to write one when she applies for an internal promotion or a position outside the company.

The sample letter in this article is written by a colleague for someone applying to a leadership position at another company. As a coworker and friend to the candidate, the writer can speak both to her professional skills and to her personal interests. Read on to see how the writer supports his colleague's job application.

Sample Recommendation Letter #7: Written by a Coworker

Mr. Ernie Sanders
Chief Marketing Officer
Globex Tech
55 Valley Road
Palo Alto, CA 95014

Dear Mr. Sanders,

I'm very pleased to recommend Alice for the position of Editor-in-Chief with Globex Tech. As a fellow IT Content Editor at CloudArk, I've worked alongside Alice for the past five years. Not only has she been a key player on our team, but she's also become a close personal friend. Alice's skills and leadership qualities would make her an invaluable addition to your information technology content development team.

While Alice has found success at CloudArk, helping increase our blog traffic from a few thousand to over one million monthly readers over her time here, she's looking to maximize her skills as a leader within a larger company. Our small start-up doesn't yet have the opportunities for leadership for which Alice is qualified. Alice is poised to step into a role of editorial management for a content program with the potential for global reach.

Alice can plan, create, and market IT content and build a global presence for Globex Tech. She's an excellent writer and editor with a facility for translating technical information into engaging content. She has used her knowledge of the tech world both to popularize CloudArk's blog and to develop a platform for educational training, including IT-related certifications, workshops, and webinars. She has her finger on the pulse of technological trends and provides content that's both useful and captivating to readers.

Alice marries her writing skills with a working knowledge of digital and inbound marketing. She works across social media, email campaigns, and other public relations outreach to effect viral engagement. Her last three posts across our social media platforms generated an all time high of 20,000 shares and helped bring in many unique visitors. In a leading position with your company, Alice would use strategic tactics, like search engine optimization and social media metrics, to take your web presence to the next level.

In addition to her professional qualifications, Alice has personal qualities that make her well-suited to leadership. She's naturally fallen into the role of "point person" that many of us go to with questions. She's not afraid to take risks and often suggests new directions to explore. Alice was instrumental in introducing our educational platform for training, for instance, a direction that has proven to be very fruitful. She's committed to quality, growth, and progress, and she inspires her team members to strive for the same. In short, Alice is a person with vision.

On a personal note, Alice has become a close friend over our years of working together at CloudArk. She organized several social events for the company, like bar meet-ups and 5k races, helping to facilitate team cohesion and allowing us to form a great friendship. In fact, we're going trail running this Saturday. Alice's fun and friendly personality are just icing on the cake of her many other qualifications.

Alice has my highest recommendation for the position of Editor-in-Chief with Globex Tech. I'm excited to see the directions in which Globex Tech will grow under Alice's leadership. Please feel free to contact me for any further information. Thanks very much for your time.

Sincerely,

Robert Wordsworth
IT Content Editor
CloudArk
rwordsworth@cloudark.com
(866) 811-5546

Robert sounds confident that Alice has the editorial and social media skills to be Editor-in-Chief.

Recommendation Letter #7: The Breakdown

This recommendation letter sample is one written by a coworker for someone applying outside of the company. This coworker describes his personal friendship with the applicant while also pointing out the applicant's professional skills and work performance. He starts with a statement of strong support, as well as an explanation of why Alice is looking to step into a leadership position at a larger company.

Robert describes Alice's past accomplishments and future potential. He shows how she contributed to CloudArk's growth, describing her skill in content creation and knowledge of technological trends. He also touches on her digital and content marketing abilities, both of which would be essential in her target job.

In addition to discussing her experiences, Robert explains that Alice has the leadership capabilities and vision to move into an Editor-in-Chief position. He says she's become the "point person" for her colleagues while also excelling at collaborative work. Alice's skill is further evidenced by virtue of the fact that the letter is written by a work colleague. As Alice's friend, Robert's also able to touch on some of her personal interests, providing an additional dimension to the letter.

Overall, Robert states strong support for Alice's application and gives examples as to why she's ready to step into a position of editorial leadership. His letter presents Alice's editorial and marketing qualifications and proves that she's established positive relationships with her colleagues.

What's Next?

Not everyone asks a coworker or manager to provide them with a letter of recommendation. People who are just out of college often ask a former professor. Check out this next recommendation letter sample to see how a professor supports a former student's job application!

Are you looking for more rec letter samples? Refer to this complete reference letter guide to find more samples and learn more about the letter writing process.