letter of recommendation

[metalgeek]

I need to write a letter of recommendation for myself, for my boss to sign.
No idea of what to qwrite.
any suggestions?
(I'm an ESL teacher in China)

[phukraut]

the letter of recommendation is achance to have a 'second resume' to back up the first. therefore, fill it with what responsibilities you had in your job, and how you excelled at them. talk about any difficult challenges (in the classroom, and outside it adapting to an exotic life) and how you overcame them. lastly, if you did something you think is good, ssuch as a particularly effective lesson plan, resolved a classroom dispute, or whatever, then put that in there too.

the point is to show what you are capable of, what skills you gained, and what challenges you beat.

just remember, something you may think is trivial can be important to someone who is not in your line of work, so don't be afraid to state the 'obvious'.

[kutulu]

I had a teacher that wanted me to write my own letter of recommendation for him to sign. I thought that was very odd.

[gibingus]

This ridiculous practice was somewhat common in the old days, especially for teachers who are asked to write many letters. you can interpret it several ways: your boss thought you were great and is giving you a blank check, your boss has some kind of perochial attitude and is giving you a character test, or your boss is lazy or too busy to take the time.

labor laws and tort lawsuits over wrongful dismissal in the United States have rendered recomendation letters moot, and this kind of practice is like playing with a loaded gun if you are a manager. most corporate HR departments will now allow managers only to verify that an employee was in fact on payroll for a given period to avoid any sort of liability down the road. the farthest you can go in writing without assuming any liability is to state that someone satisfactorily met their job requirements while they were under your supervision.