August 14, 2012 Matthew Rollins Hiring Manager, CalCo Inc. 555 Pine Rd. Middletown, NY 55555 Dear Mr. Rollins, This letter is my personal character reference for John Tate. I have been a close friend of John’s for eight years and his immediate supervisor for three. He has worked for me at ArkCo since December 3, 2009. In my interactions with him, I’ve found that he consistently exceeds expectations in his interpersonal skills, problem-solving abilities, and work ethic. I was hesitant to hire John at first because of our close friendship, but I had two other managers interview him to ensure the hire was unbiased. Both agreed that out of all the candidates, he stood out in his professionalism and ability to communicate effectively. After the hire, he was able to match pace with his peers in a matter of weeks. By the time he had been in his position for two months, he was consistently among the top performers. To this day, I conduct all of his evaluations with other managers, and John never fails to impress them with his well-developed skills and can-do attitude. Several specific examples of his stellar performance spring to mind, and I hope they will help you in your hiring process. When a coworker was unable to come to work due to a family emergency, John stayed late every day for the duration of her leave to work on her projects for her. This ensured that she didn’t fall too far behind and kept us from losing a valuable contract. Another time, a customer felt compelled to contact me directly regarding how helpful John had been during a sale of the new info tech systems. She raved about the fact that he was able to take complex systems and make them easy for laymen to understand without being condescending. He was also quick to answer her questions with relevant information that mattered to her and not just irrelevant statistics and technical jargon. That customer has since switched to our provider services exclusively. I hope these examples show what a hard-working and proactive employee John is and can help you make your decision. Employees of John’s caliber are hard to replace, but I honestly believe that he has outgrown our location and is ready for the challenges of your business. He is self motivated and driven to do his work to the best of his ability. I highly recommend John for your organization, as I know he will be a great asset to you. Please feel free to contact me directly at 555.555.5555 if you have any questions or need further information about John’s achievements. Sincerely, SIGNATURE Pamela Roy Manager, ArkCo