Your qualifications, working practices and performance – all this is documented in the recommendation letter. You receive this letter from your employer. The recommendation letter is an important document for the application. It serves as proof of your skills and as a decision-making tool for the prospective employer during the application process.
As an employee, you have the right to receive a recommendation letter: in case of dismissal and upon request, your employer has the obligation to write a recommendation letter within four weeks.
Your letter of recommendation states things that are untrue? In case of doubt, you can take legal action. In any case, you should make sure that any misrepresentations in your recommendation letter are rectified – after all it is your performance that is at stake! Sometimes a simple petition is enough to make any changes or additions to single passages.
When and where were you employed? What did you achieve there? A recommendation letter should contain these details. In Germany, there is a basic certificate, the so-called einfaches Zeugnis, which certifies the type of employment and its duration and is equivalent to a formal letter of recommendation. There is also a qualified certificate, qualifiziertes Arbeitszeugnis, it is more common and contains, in addition, a detailed evaluation of the aspects concerning leadership, performance and quality.
Bad performance? This does not appear in a recommendation letter. Since the 70’s it is legally forbidden to mention the employee’s negative aspects in a recommendation letter. Since then it is only allowed to include positive statements about an employee. The consequence: personnel managers have developed their own formulaic language. This consists of standard phrasings that, depending on their nature, will allow drawing conclusions about the actual work quality and performance of the employee.
Example:
‘stets zu unserer vollen Zufriedenheit’ or ‘zu unserer vollen Zufriedenheit’ or ‘stets zu unserer Zufriedenheit’ or ‘zu unserer Zufriedenheit’ or ‘zufriedenstellend’
(‘as always carried out to our complete satisfaction’, ‘carried out to our complete satisfaction’, ‘as always carried to our satisfaction’, ‘carried out to our satisfaction’, ‘carried out satisfactorily’)
Basically: aspects that are not mentioned in a letter of recommendation are evaluated negatively rather than positively. The same applies to a non-existent letter of recommendation. You can explain the reason for a missing letter of recommendation in your cover letter.
| Phrasings in recommendation letters |
Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sein Verhältnis zu Vorgesetzten und Mitarbeitern war gleichermaßen vorbildlich (His relation to superiors and colleagues was throughout exemplary) |
excellent |
| Wir wünsche ihr auch in Zukunft viel Glück und Erfolg (We wish her the best of luck and success for the future) |
very good |
| Wir bedauern sein Ausscheiden (We regret his departure) |
good employee |
| Sie bemühte sich, unseren Anforderungen gerecht zu werden (She made an effort to meet our requirements) |
insufficient |
| Er zeigte Interesse und Verständnis für seine Aufgaben (He showed interest and understanding in regard to his tasks) |
insufficient |
| Für die Belange der Belegschaft hatte sie stets ein offenes Ohr (She always had and open ear for employee representative the concerns of the employees) |
employee representative, member of a union |
| Wir wünschen ihr in Zukunft eine gute Gesundheit (We wish her good health for the future) |
frequently ill |
| Wir haben uns im gegenseitigen Einvernehmen getrennt (We parted we dismissed him / her by mutual agreement) |
we dismissed him / her |
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