I am a college student who is trying to move into a job more-related to my field while I pursue my final year of college. I have worked at a restaurant for the last three years and asked my employer if he would write me a letter of recommendation, which he was happy to.
Once I received the letter I found that it was poorly written, not in content, but in grammar and general sentence structure.
I am not sure how to approach this situation.
Should I edit the letter myself to fix the grammar issues?
Should I approach my boss and ask him to fix them? I don't want to offend him.
Should I just attach it to my resume in its current state?
They aren't major issues, just a few missing commas, and some problems with tense continuity. However, it is an extremely professional career that I am pursuing where documentation and writing are key. I notice these errors on a quick read-through and I am sure potential employers would also.
Sherrie2010-08-29T11:01:35Z
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As a professional writer, I'd advise you not rewrite the letter, and I think you have very good instincts in knowing that it would be impolite to ask the author of the letter to rewrite it. That says something very good about your people skills and class.
Even if their grammar wasn't perfect, it is the content of what they say that is important. I'm assuming what they said about you had to do with your performance and work ethic in a restaurant. This speaks to your character and willingness to work hard and do whatever is asked of you. Even if their letter isn't perfect, this will be fine for a reference on this point.
If, however, the author was discussing your performance in WRITING job, and the author made mistakes, you'd have cause for concern, because they'd be establishing him/herself as an an expert in writing, yet showing poor communication skills. But they are not claiming to be a communication expert. They are claiming to be a people-management expert, which the content of their letter seems to address just fine.
Now, if the letter were truly terrible, with not just a few grammar mistakes, but riddled with countless spelling mistakes and TONS of glaring errors, I might reconsider. But otherwise, I think you're fine. The documentation YOU provide as part of your application process will provide the testimony to your communication skills, and that's what counts.
The recommendation letter is based on your work ethic and work ability. It will not viewed as YOUR words but rather as others (in this case your manager) view you. Editing the letter (if found out) would only work to your disadvantage because the thought would be, "Did Adam really only change the grammatical errors?" - causing the letter to potentially being voided because of its alteration. I wouldn't take the chance.
You could actually use the letter to your advantage at the interviewing process. You could tell your potential employer that you feel lucky that your manager took the time to write the letter because you don't think he does it on a regular basis. They'll get the picture. It will be apparent to your new employer that you are trying to better yourself and looking for an environment more conducive to your goals.
wow you might want to reword this, I cant even begin to tell what you are asking, make it simple and to the point, it should be something simple at least in my honest oppinion. It should be worded something like this. Dear so & so, I am writing you this letter in reference to a request for a reccomendation from you. I have not heard back from you and am concerend that you have not respnded to my earlier request, and that this may be due in fact to your possible oppinions on my teaching abbilities during my student teaching period, if this is the case I would greatly appreciate the chance to discuss these issues with you and identify any shortcomings you may feel I have so that even if you do not feel good about writing me a reccomendation I will still know the areas thjat I need to improve upon, so that I can become an exceptional teacher. I really appreciate your time and assistance in this matter. sincerely blah blah Never address your shortcomings or faults, in an email to the person you are seeking a reccomendation from all you are doing is opening up a new ball of wax, you may be identifying shortcomings that they reciever doesnt even see you as having, and if you want you can open with omething about how much you learned from them, and how great it was to be under their guidance,