Personal recommendations are an important request and require special attention to make them suitable. If you’ve been asked to write a personal letter of recommendation for a friend, you may have ...

Before you start writing a letter of recommendation for a friend, clarify the purpose of the letter itself. Is it for a job, graduate school, a volunteer position, or something else? Understanding the ...

A character reference letter can make or break an applicant’s chances. Here’s how to write a great one. A character reference letter can make or break an applicant’s chances Before the days of ...

Undergraduates need them for graduate-school applications; PhD students and postdocs use them to apply for fellowships and jobs; senior scientists often have to have them to apply for awards and ...

It is an honor to be asked to be someone’s character reference. But even if you are enthused about helping a friend or colleague out, you might feel a little intimidated by the prospect of putting the ...

These letters, which help students land everything from valuable scholarships to coveted internships, need to seem authentic and personalized, but that takes time, which is already in short supply for ...

Johnny C. Taylor Jr. tackles your human resources questions as part of a series for USA TODAY. Taylor is president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, the world's largest HR ...

Shortly after becoming a full professor, I asked a colleague who had held that rank for years to name the greatest challenge she had faced in this ultimate chapter of faculty life. Her instant reply: ...

Letters of recommendation are a standard part of many employment and educational applications. Applicants naturally choose people to write letters of recommendation who are likely to give them a good ...