Letters of endorsement serves as a formal recommendation for a particular person regarding a certain purpose. It could be written to support a job application or a college admission. Sometimes employer, scholarship board or the board of admissions clearly mention the requirement of such letter. But if it is not mention, even then you can attach this as a supportive to endorse your application.
At times the admission board or the scholarship committee provides clear guidelines about the elements required to be covered in it. It makes the writing effortless but usually you have figure out the useful points required to be mentioned in it. This letter outlines all the relevant qualities, skills and remarkable abilities of the person.
We have provided some effective writing tips to help you write a letter of endorsement.
- Compose it on your official letterhead under the guidelines of the formal business letter writing.
- If you do not have an official letterhead, start it with your full name, address and other contact detail.
- Put the current date and the subject line.
- Start with a formal salutation. “Dear Mr. / Mrs. / Ms. /” with the last name is perfect if you know the name of the reader. “To Whom It May Concern” will be your attempt if you have no idea about the concerned person.
- In the first paragraph provide relevant details about the person you are writing for. Mention the relationship you share with the person and the span of time you have known to him.
- Directly present you purpose of writing without a detailed description in the opening paragraph.
- Second paragraph is the place where you can emphasize the remarkable qualities of the person. For instance, if you are writing this for a college admission, write some lines to prove the suitability of the program he/she is applying for.
- If you are writing letter for a grant, mention their recent achievement and stress on the authenticity.
- If you are writing to promote someone for employment, you can add the skill sets or the leadership quality to make the application stand out in the crowd.
- Conclude it with a strong gesture about the endorsee your recommending truly deserves.
- Request the reader to contact you for the further clarification regarding your recommendation.
- Close your letter with a formal and appropriate closure such as “Sincerely”, “Yours faithfully” or something similar to it.
- Proofread it again and again to make an error free document. There should be no spelling and grammatical error. A letter with error fails to deliver the credibility of the sender.
- Put your signature and send it.