The reference letter I wrote in 2013 vs the one I write today

I pulled up an old file from 2013 when a former student asked me to redo their letter from back then. It was two pages of flowery praise about potential, with no real examples. Now I write one page max, and I lead with the specific project or grade trend, like the time a kid turned around a D in math to a B by March. The change came when a hiring manager in Des Moines told me my letters were 'poetry, not evidence.' I started asking students for their own numbers, like attendance or test scores, and it made everything sharper. Anyone else find their writing style shifting this much in a decade?

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sam171mo ago

Poetry not evidence, guess Ive been writing Hallmark cards instead of job references this whole time.

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jordan_anderson901mo ago

My buddy runs a small shop in Toledo and he told me last week he tosses any reference letter that mentions "potential" or "growth" because those words are code for nothing. And honestly, I get it. A letter full of numbers and specific projects sounds like a spreadsheet, not a person. The hiring manager who said your letters were poetry probably meant they were memorable, and memory matters more than metrics when someone is picking between three qualified candidates. I had a kid last year who failed half his classes but his letter talked about how he fixed the copier in the office every day without being asked, and that got him a job over some 4.0 kid with a clinical write up. Sometimes the soft stuff is the whole point.

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