This year job market is a tough one to crack. It seems that many places you apply, there are few positions, and lots of qualified candidates. It’s important to stand out from the pack. When applying for a job a resume and a cover letter are usually standard requirements. But, if you really want to stand apart from other candidates then include a letter of recommendation from an employer.

The first important rule to follow is to highlight the amount of time that an employee has spent with the company. Normally, it is a requirement that someone chooses an employer they’ve been with for at least a year, and there is a reason for this. The longer the employment history, the more valid the letter of recommendation becomes. Highlight this persons stability with the company by very early on including how many years they’ve spent with the company. This shows that the person values sticking with one company, and not quickly moving on.

Next, highlight the employees strengths. Are they hardworking, trustworthy, always positive? This part can be a little vague. Include a few sentences about what characteristics your company has loved about this employee. After this go on into more details, and elaborate on each of these characteristics. For example, if you describe the employee as being trustworthy, include a sample with it. For example, if you’re writing a letter of recommendation for someone that works with money, include a story about how the drawer or money count was never short.

After the descriptive words are written, highlight the awards that the person has won. Were they employee of the month? Did they get a lot of customer compliments? Again, be specific. Write some of these things in particular. Even though customer compliments, are not specific tangible things, they could be helpful to include. Maybe the particular employee has a specific customer that always asks for them. Include that.

Another key is making the letter of recommendation specific by saying what you think your former employee will provide to the new company. This helps to give the new company strong visuals on how that employee will fit in. This is a very key step, and one that could be the make or break. Giving your approval that this person will do well in a new company, may be the added nudge the new company needs to hire that person.

Finally add a little bit about the person outside of work. Maybe you always see them smiling, or holding the door open for people on their way in. Maybe on the weekends you’ve had to call them in and they dropped their plans to show up. Little things like this are important to set the letter of reccommendation apart from others.

Finally, it is important to acknowledge and discuss that you are loosing an employee. Talk about how much of an impact that individual had, how sad you are to see them go, but how you know they are doing the right thing. Overall, make the letter honest and heartfelt, and you can’t go wrong.