I guess this is normal practice at a lot of Universities, here, or so I’ve hard from other teachers. You write your own reference letter and then email it, and it gets printed and stamped by the person who is or was your supervisor.
I suppose it’s one way to make sure you get the reference letter you want, but it’s odd. Doesn’t this result in other people basically knowing you’ve written your own reference letters? Doesn’t it mean that people all read them knowing you’re writing about yourself? I find it kind of interesting, though, since, as a blogger, I’m always writing about my own life. But in this context, I just find it very interesting.
In any case, I’ve just written my own reference letter, and I’ll be going off to Iksan tomorrow to morning to meet the professor whose name is on it, to pick up the — I imagine — somewhat altered copy she’ll print and stamp for me. Then, maybe, in the afternoon, it’ll be time for the big fun: treatment of a cavity under one of my fillings in one of my molars, the only remaining dental problem according to the dentist who scaled my teeth last week. Though if this sore throat gets any worse, it may have to wait another week.
I couldn’t write my own reference letter. It’d be counter productive.
To whom it may concern,
Peemil has been working for this organisation for over three years.
In that time we haven’t seen him do an ounce of work.
We’d fire him but most people are scared of him. He often sits in an open toilet cubicle and sharpens a knife while singing “Bonanza.”
We’re glad to see the arse end of him without him killing anyone here.
Yours Sincerely,
Middle Management type.
Ha, well, the trick is to highlight the things other people would think are good about you, not the things you’re necessarily proud of. :p
Gord,
My boss also wanted me to write my own reference letter in Taiwan.
My boss back in Canada, several years ago, also asked me to write my own ref letter.
Then both of them just signed off on it.
I guess it works. Obviously I knew the content of the letter, which was nice LOL!!
currently researching(!) on how to write ones own reference letter & stumbled on your site. Pretty odd..but my boss is very busy – if u want to get it done – then u gotta push for it. btw, I get the feeling its hard and odd.
Strange: I’m in this situation right now and, looking for some tips, I did a Google search on writing my own reference letter and your site was right there on first page of results. Here’s to familiarity.
It does feel a tad unseemly to be writing my own letter, but then, if the referee is willing to sign off on it I don’t see why I should be overly conflicted.