One of the easiest ways to develop your relationships while working on your marketing is to write recommendations yourself to people who have been significant in your career.
Writing a recommendation is not to be taken lightly. We all have professional relationships that have resulted in mutual recognition, unforgettable moments, successful challenges, overcoming obstacles, shared trust, or an extended partnership. A recommendation is a genuine act that recognizes the human and professional qualities of the people who have marked your life. It is also an act that gives real meaning to networking. It allows you to build, consolidate and maintain your relationships in an efficient way, as long as you respect a few rules of text composition.
Tip 1
The first sentence must catch your readers’ attention and make them want to meet your contact. This sentence should highlight what is “remarkable” about him or her, in every sense of the word.
Example: “Too few people have the opportunity to work for a manager who has also been a coach and mentor. I realized this privilege while working for Paul Martin.”
Tip 2
Try to avoid using superlatives as much as possible unless you are explaining how they were “best”, “favorite”, “incredible”.
Example: Not “One of my favorite colleagues, one of the best managers I’ve ever had, etc.”, but rather: “Paul Martin embodies a leadership style that has allowed me to develop and understand my added value in the company”.
Tip 3
It is essential to contextualize and describe your professional relationship: your respective functions, the duration of the collaboration, on which project you worked together.
Example: “From 2010 to 2013, as a Sales Executive, I worked with Sophie, our new Community Manager at the time, to develop our social networking strategy. Since then, she has continued to take on more responsibility by managing several digital projects within the company. I recognize her legitimate contribution to our sales growth.”
Tip 4
Once you’ve found the hook and set the context, select 1 to 2 key competencies about the recommended person. Things that stand out to you and make this person professionally outstanding. If their profile is well done, their skills will be easy to identify and illustrate with your own experience. It can also be useful to contact the person in question to ask if there are any particular skills, achievements, work experience or abilities that he or she would like you to highlight among those you have experienced together.
Example: “Christian has particularly impressed me with his ability to effectively juggle multiple projects while managing extremely demanding clients in terms of scheduling and resource management.”
Tip 5
Disagreements in a company, team, department or interpersonal relationship are rarely related to the skills of one person. More often, problems are due to differences in perception, communication, character, personality or culture. Hence the interest in writing a line about soft skills, like why it was pleasant to work with this person, a personality trait, etc.
Example: “Pierre has a real talent for defusing tense situations and facilitating communication. Regardless of the type of meeting and the tensions inherent in the meeting, Pierre ensured that everyone left with a real sense of satisfaction and renewed focus on the company’s collective goals.”
Tip 6
Finally, end with a call-to-action sentence for the readers of your contact’s profile.
Example: “Sarah’s digital marketing skills will be a real asset to the team or company that has the privilege of working with her.” “Richard is one of the people you want to have and keep on your team.”
Conclusion
Writing a good recommendation is a challenge and a mix between:
- Generosity: in terms of time and sharing one’s experience with the person, both humanly and professionally,
- Rigor: in terms of writing, because you have to be clear, synthetic and give all the necessary elements to understand the context of the professional relationship you are describing if you want the exercise to be successful.
Jobprofile can help you with that, as we did with hundreds of talents and their LinkedIn profile.
