How to write a reference letter

To write a reference letter, open with how you know the person and for how long, state their role and main duties, give two concrete examples with results a reader could check, explain in one neutral sentence why they left, and close with a recommendation phrased as your opinion plus a phone number or email. Keep it to one page, sign it with your name and position, and make sure every fact is accurate.

What you can and cannot say

A reference is safe when every factual statement is accurate and every judgement is honestly held. The English House of Lords decision in Spring v Guardian Assurance held that an employer giving a reference owes the employee a duty to take reasonable care over its accuracy, so a careless factual error can cost the writer. It is an English case, so treat it as a clear statement of the risk rather than the Australian rule, and take advice on anything contentious; the practical habits it points to apply in any jurisdiction.

Three rules follow:

• Facts must be checkable. Dates, titles, duties and numbers the employer’s records would confirm.
• Judgements are stated as opinion. “In my opinion she is ready to lead a team” is honest and defensible; “she will be an excellent manager” is a prediction.
• Irrelevant and personal matters stay out. Age, health, family plans, religion, union membership and unproven complaints have no place in a reference.

Check your employer’s policy before signing on letterhead. Many organisations route references through HR and allow managers only to confirm dates and role.

The structure, paragraph by paragraph

The reference letter example from a fictional distribution company follows a structure a hiring manager can scan in under a minute.

Relationship and dates. The opening sentence says the writer was Daniel Okoro’s manager from March 2023 to August 2026, and that he was Operations Coordinator reporting to the writer. A reader knows immediately how much weight to give what follows.

Duties. Four bullet points: scheduling 14 drivers across two depots, managing the vehicle maintenance calendar, acting as first contact for three national customers, and running the weekly operations meeting. Duties establish scope; they are not praise.

Examples. Two sentences, each with a result. Covered in the next section.

Manner. One sentence on how he worked: direct and even handed with the drivers, patient with customers, and both kept coming to him first.

Reason for leaving. He left for a role with broader scope at a larger company, and the business would have kept him. An experienced reference reader notices when the reason is missing.

Recommendation and contact. The writer recommends him without hesitation for an operations role and, in their opinion, sees him as ready for a management position, then offers a phone number and email to speak further.

A signature line with name, title and date follows, and a short summary strip at the foot repeats the employment period, the team scheduled and the delivery figures.

The same skeleton adapts to other kinds of reference. For a character reference from someone who was never the employer, replace the opening with the relationship and how long you have known the person, keep two concrete examples and drop the duties. For an academic reference, the duties become the course or project, and the numbers become a result the project produced. For a short statement of service, keep only the opening sentence and the summary rows. In every version the order holds: verifiable facts first, one opinion at the end, and a way for the reader to call.

Examples that carry numbers

Numbers separate a reference from a testimonial, because a hiring manager can test a number in a phone call and cannot test an adjective at all.

The example gives two. In 2025 he redesigned the run sheets, cutting late deliveries from 6.1 percent to 2.4 percent over six months, measured in the customer scorecards. During the February 2026 floods he re routed 40 deliveries in a day and kept both supermarket accounts supplied with no complaints logged.

Pick examples that show different strengths: one planned improvement and one response under pressure is a good pairing. Say where the number came from, such as customer scorecards or a sales report, so it reads as a record rather than a memory. If you do not have a figure, a specific, dated event still works better than a quality word.

What to leave out

Beyond personal characteristics, three kinds of content cause trouble.

Unproven allegations. If an investigation did not reach a finding, it does not belong in a reference.

Overstatement. A reference that hides a real, relevant problem can mislead the next employer. When there is nothing positive and accurate to say, confirm dates and role only.

Promises. “She will never let you down” is not a fact and not an opinion about past work. Describe what the person did.

For employees who left under difficult circumstances, a short factual letter confirming role and dates is often the right document. The termination letter example and the resignation letter example show the records that usually sit beside it on the file.

Signing, letterhead and privacy

Sign with your name and position, and date the letter. The example is signed by the State Operations Manager on the company’s monogram letterhead, dated 9 September 2026, addressed “To whom it may concern” because the recipient is not known.

Ask the employee before giving a reference, and ask which role they are applying for so the examples are relevant. On privacy, the OAIC explains that a private sector employer’s handling of employee records is exempt from the Privacy Act when it is directly related to the current or former employment relationship. Getting the person’s agreement before sharing details with a third party is still good practice, and it avoids any doubt about whether the disclosure was expected.

For phone references, confirm the caller works for the hiring organisation before discussing anyone, and give the same facts you would put in writing. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s templates page also offers ending employment templates for the other letters that often go out at the same time.

The paragraph table

The table at the end of this article lists eleven parts of a reference letter, what each says, and how the example handles it. The note on a reference letter versus a letter of recommendation explains when each is the right document. For the other side of the process, the guide to job application form questions covers collecting referee details.

Common mistakes

Adjectives instead of evidence. “Hard working and reliable” tells a hiring manager nothing.

No dates. Without the employment period, the reader cannot judge the reference.

Missing reason for leaving. Its absence invites suspicion.

Predictions as facts. Frame judgements as your opinion.

Writing without permission. Check with the employee and with your employer’s policy first.

Build it

A reference letter is a composed, one page document, and documents here are classified by scale before they are written: composed for one page, flow for two to five, long for six or more. A letterhead is used when a document speaks for a sender, in one of four styles, masthead, ledger, monogram or underline, and a cover page is never added to a letter. Key values come in four layouts, stats, rows, card and cards, which suits the short summary strip at the foot.

The AI chat edits text only, so it can tighten a paragraph or reframe a sentence as opinion without changing the layout. The page on one page documents shows the composed scale, and the tutorial on creating a document with AI covers drafting the letter from a prompt with the dates, duties and examples.