Job reference: structure, content and examples

Employees are likely to ask for one when leaving, and you as an en­tre­pren­eur, are likely to request them from any potential can­did­ates you may be hiring: we’re talking about a job reference, of course! There are two main types of job reference you can provide to employees. The simple job reference provides in­form­a­tion on the type and duration of work with a previous employer. A detailed job reference also contains an as­sess­ment of the employee’s social and pro­fes­sion­al skills. Writing a detailed reference is far more common, and is intended to give as accurate a picture as possible of the service provided.

HR and personnel managers can see from the employer’s reference whether an applicant has the necessary ex­per­i­ence and skills for the position in question. Whether it’s a simple or detailed job reference, you should consider the following two ob­lig­a­tions when writing a job reference:

• Duty of truth: The in­form­a­tion in the employer’s reference must be accurate.
• Duty of be­ne­vol­ence: Employer ref­er­ences are generally for­mu­lated in a be­ne­vol­ent manner. The eval­u­ation should refer to the actual per­form­ance and typically em­phas­ises the strengths where possible. If the employee in question was un­sat­is­fact­ory, it is rather un­pro­fes­sion­al to state so. You are under no legal ob­lig­a­tion to provide a job reference, so best practice is simply to decline writing one, rather than write an un­fa­vour­able review of your employee.

The simple job reference contains the essential in­form­a­tion about the job and duration of em­ploy­ment. The main contents include personal data on the employee, their previous position within the company, pro­fes­sion­al de­vel­op­ment, their field of activity, tasks completed, and the length of em­ploy­ment. The tasks completed should be described in a clear, truthful way so that potential future employers can follow the applicant’s pro­fes­sion­al ex­per­i­ence. When it comes to a simple job reference, you usually omit any eval­u­ation of the employee’s per­form­ance. These ref­er­ences are typically requested to provide certified proof that the employee held the position. They are becoming more and more obsolete. The most common way of con­firm­ing a candidate’s job history is to contact previous employers with the contact in­form­a­tion provided on the CV, rather than re­quest­ing a simple reference.

Omitting an eval­u­ation in the simple reference is both an advantage and a dis­ad­vant­age. If there were any problems with the employee during their tenure, these are not doc­u­mented. However, a lack of detailed eval­u­ation on the employee’s personal behaviour can lead to mistrust amongst potential new employers. Why does the applicant not have a detailed job reference? However, there are also other cir­cum­stances where a simple reference makes sense. If the em­ploy­ment re­la­tion­ship was too short to provide any sub­stan­ti­ated in­form­a­tion about the employee’s behaviour, a simple reference may be the ap­pro­pri­ate choice.

In contrast to a simple job reference, a detailed job reference iden­ti­fies and assesses the employee’s personal and social skills. This is the most commonly requested type of job reference by employees.

The contents in detail:

• Heading: Depending on the type of cer­ti­fic­ate, choose the ap­pro­pri­ate heading: e.g. employer’s reference, training reference, or in­tern­ship reference.
• In­tro­duc­tion: The in­tro­duc­tion contains the employee’s personal data, e.g. first and last name, date of birth, period of em­ploy­ment, and position. The employee’s address does not belong in the job reference.
• Brief de­scrip­tion of the company: Summarise the essential in­form­a­tion about your company. What are your core com­pet­en­cies and focal points? Also, state the location of your company and the number of employees.
• Job de­scrip­tion: List all activ­it­ies carried out by the employee during the entire period of em­ploy­ment.
• As­sess­ment of per­form­ance and social behaviour: If the employee has special skills and knowledge, these are mentioned here.
• Reason for ter­min­a­tion: You can include the reason for ter­min­a­tion in the job reference should you wish. If the employee left the company on bad terms, it is best practice to decline writing a reference rather than slamming the employee in their reference. It is also unlikely that an employee, who was ter­min­ated for poor per­form­ance, will request a job reference if they know it is unlikely to be com­pli­ment­ary. If you do find yourself in the position, either omit the reason or phrase it in neutral language. This is the most pro­fes­sion­al way of dealing with the situation, and will cover you should you later encounter legal issues for de­fam­a­tion of the employee.
• Con­clud­ing paragraph and wishes for the future: At this stage, you can thank the employee for their co­oper­a­tion and wish them all the best for the future.
• Signature, date, and company stamp: The job reference is completed when the place and date of issue are indicated and the issuer’s signature is included.

Has your employee fulfilled their tasks to your sat­is­fac­tion? It’s up to you to answer this question when writing the per­form­ance as­sess­ment portion of a job reference. Of par­tic­u­lar im­port­ance is high­light­ing which com­pet­en­cies were developed strongly by your employee. As a rule, the following com­pet­en­cies are evaluated in a qualified job reference:

• Will­ing­ness to work: De­term­in­a­tion, sense of duty, com­mit­ment, readiness to work, personal ini­ti­at­ive
• Work qual­i­fic­a­tion: Judgement, stress res­ist­ance, thinking, com­pre­hen­sion, ability to work under pressure, flex­ib­il­ity
• Working method and working style: Personal re­spons­ib­il­ity, con­scien­tious­ness, meth­od­o­logy, in­de­pend­ence, re­li­ab­il­ity
• Work results and successes: Quality, quantity, skills, intensity, pro­ductiv­ity
• Special skills and knowledge: Any special achieve­ments
• Existing lead­er­ship com­pet­en­cies: Lead­er­ship style, employee sat­is­fac­tion, mo­tiv­a­tion skills
• As­sess­ment of the overall per­form­ance: General sat­is­fac­tion with the employee’s per­form­ance

The eval­u­ation and weighting of in­di­vidu­al criteria depends on the concrete re­quire­ments for the position in the company. Just like a certain structure and a certain sequence have become es­tab­lished in practice, stand­ard­ised for­mu­la­tions for the final per­form­ance eval­u­ation have become es­tab­lished. These are based on school grades ranging from “very good” to “un­sat­is­fact­ory”:

• “Always to our complete sat­is­fac­tion” = very good per­form­ance
• “Always to our full sat­is­fac­tion” = good per­form­ance
• “Always to our sat­is­fac­tion” = sat­is­fact­ory per­form­ance

In addition to per­form­ance, the employer’s reference also assesses the employee’s social behaviour. The focus here is on social skills and soft skills. Three aspects should be con­sidered when assessing social behaviour:

• Behaviour towards internal employees: superiors, col­leagues, and employees
• Conduct towards external parties: Customers and external contacts
• Other social behaviour and com­pet­ences: Honesty, integrity, as­sert­ive­ness, or will­ing­ness to com­prom­ise

Does the job reference consist of the following sections and contents:

• Heading (job reference/interim reference)
• In­tro­duc­tion
• Brief de­scrip­tion of the company
• Job de­scrip­tion
• As­sess­ment of per­form­ance and social behaviour
• Ter­min­a­tion reason
• Closing formula and wishes for the future
• Signature, date, and company stamp
• Company data

Is the form of the reference correct?

• Is the in­form­a­tion in the employer’s reference true and be­ne­vol­ent?
• Is the cer­ti­fic­ate free of sub­ject­ive eval­u­ations?
• Is the text properly formatted?
• Are spelling and syntax correct?
• Is the job de­scrip­tion com­pre­hens­ive enough?
• Are the tasks ordered according to meaning (the most important first)?
• Was the cer­ti­fic­ate issued on business paper? (A business paper must contain the company data, the legal form, and the address of the company)
• Is the date of issue the same as the date of the last working day?

Please note the legal dis­claim­er relating to this article.