Reference
Free Recommendation Letter Generator
Write a reference for someone you have worked with or taught. Pick how strongly you want to recommend them, add concrete examples, and download the PDF. Nothing is uploaded.
How strongly are you recommending?
This rewrites the closing sentence, which is where a reader actually looks for your verdict. A lukewarm closing after warm paragraphs reads as a warning, so pick the one you mean.
Pick a template
Accent colour
Language of the letter
Changes the greeting, subject line and closing formula, and rewrites the draft if you have inserted one.
About you
Include a way to reach you. A reference from someone who cannot be contacted carries much less weight, and readers often check.
About the person
Pronouns to use in the draft
Used in the drafted wording so it reads naturally. Ask the person if you are not certain — getting it wrong in a letter about them is worse than asking.
Who will read it
What is it for?
The letter
Leave a blank line between paragraphs. Single line breaks are joined into one paragraph, the way a letter reads.
Letter length
0 words
Your name
November 8, 2026
Dear Hiring Manager,
Your letter will appear here as you type.
Sincerely,
Your name
0 words
How to write a recommendation letter
- Choose how strongly you are recommending. This sets the closing sentence.
- Add your name, title and a way to be contacted — a reference nobody can verify counts for little.
- Add the person, how long you have known them and in what capacity.
- Write two strengths, each with a specific example and the result it produced.
- Close with your verdict, pick a template and download the PDF.
What makes a reference actually useful
Specifics. A reader has seen a hundred letters calling someone hard-working and reliable, and those words now carry almost no information. What they have not seen is what this person did: the process they rebuilt, the number that moved, the crisis they handled while their manager was away. One concrete example outweighs a paragraph of praise, because it can be pictured and, if necessary, checked. Say what happened, what the person did, and what came of it.
How long should it be?
One page. Three or four short paragraphs is the norm: who you are and how you know them, two examples of their work, and your recommendation. Longer letters are not read more carefully — they are skimmed harder. If you find yourself writing a fourth example, it usually means the first three were too vague.
What if you cannot recommend them wholeheartedly?
Use the Measured setting, or decline. A reference that praises warmly and then closes without actually recommending anyone reads as a warning, and experienced readers notice the gap immediately — some treat a conspicuously neutral letter as more damning than a refusal. If you genuinely cannot support the application, it is kinder and safer to say you are not the right person to write it. What you should not do is write a glowing letter you do not mean; you may be asked about it later.
Can I write my own and have someone sign it?
It is common for a busy referee to ask for a draft, and there is nothing wrong with supplying one — provided they read it, change what they disagree with, and sign it because they mean it. What makes it a problem is the referee never seeing it, or signing wording they would not have chosen. Admissions offices and hiring managers do contact referees, and a referee who cannot speak to the letter in their name does the candidate more harm than no letter at all.