reference letter

• Addressee name and address if known
• Date
• Salutation (‘To whom it may concern’, or ‘Dear Sir or Madam’, or ‘Dear <title> <surname>’)
• Confirm dates, job title(s) capacity, and salary and benefits details if required/appropriate.
• Confirm that the person’s performance and attitude was (at all times) satisfactory/exceeded expectations or standards.
• Briefly explain the person’s responsibilities (optional)
• Briefly describe their skills/qualifications/strengths/characteristics (optional)
• State that you would willingly re-employ the person if the opportunity arose (optional, and very re-assuring for the reader)
• Offer to provide more information if required (optional)
• Yours faithfully (or ‘Yours sincerely’ if writing to a named addressee)

N.B. It’s a matter for your own discretion how much praise and positive information to include in the reference letter, hence the optional items.