Letter of recommendation for student

[SweetOldWorld, BSN, RN]

A student I precepted has asked me to write a letter of recommendation for him. I am willing to do this. However, he wants me to send a general letter directly to him and he will then use it as needed when applying for jobs. I feel uncomfortable doing this, so I thought I'd check here. When you write letters of recommendation, do you send them to the student, or directly to the school/employer?

Thanks!

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

I always send the letter to the student. I feel it's his or her right to know what I've said about him/her. Sometimes I send the same letter at the same time to the person who will get the reference. Sometimes I leave the sending to the potential employer to the student. I always have my email and phone number on it so the employer can contact me if there's any doubt.

I think it's kind of smart to get "to whom it may concern" letters from instructors while they remember a person rather than waiting until a time when all memory could be out the window.

[SweetOldWorld, BSN, RN]

I always send the letter to the student. I feel it's his or her right to know what I've said about him/her. Sometimes I send the same letter at the same time to the person who will get the reference. Sometimes I leave the sending to the potential employer to the student. I always have my email and phone number on it so the employer can contact me if there's any doubt.

I think it's kind of smart to get "to whom it may concern" letters from instructors while they remember a person rather than waiting until a time when all memory could be out the window.

Whispera, thanks for your reply! Do you send the letters to students electronically? I was thinking of writing it in Word, but then saving as a PDF file so that it couldn't be altered. Putting your email and phone number is a great idea, and I will do that.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

I've sent them as email, written in Word, and I've sent them through the postal service. I've honestly never worried about a student altering my words. I figure anyone who asks for a reference must have done pretty well in my class, and would think of him/herself as honorable or wouldn't be asking for a reference. If I had any inkling someone might alter what I write, I wouldn't write a reference. I teach small classes, usually clinicals, and get to know my students pretty well. You would have to know any student you wrote a reference for, pretty well too, right?

One thing you can do, if you send the reference through the postal service is to put it in a sealed envelope that has an official address on it (school, facility, etc.) and also write the reference on letterhead stationery. Students wouldn't have access to those papers usually.

If I send the reference by email to the employer, I give some proof I am who I say I am, like a link to my school site where the person can see I'm really a faculty member. This is for the student's benefit, just so the employer might not think a friend wrote the email. It's not a matter of me not trusting the student, but that another person might not.