How to turn down a reference letter request
How to turn down a reference letter request – You may be approached to write a reference letter at some point if you are in a position of authority. Sometimes you have to decline / turn down or say no to endorsing a recommendation letter for an employee or a reference if you are teacher for a student for college or higher studies.Either way it is not your duty nor obligation to write this recommendation letter. Think of it as more of a favor you are bestowing upon a colleague. There is no shame in saying no, but the way you say it might make you feel guilty or make the employee/student disappointed or dejected.In order to avoid that confrontation there are a few ways whereby you can say no, without actually saying no.
Turn down a reference letter request to an employee
1.You can always say that you are not qualified enough to write a reference.You can go on to ask the employee to ask another member of the senior staff who has more experience years behind them in the company or who is at a higher position in the corporate hierarchy.
2.If there is a particular person who comes forward to you, and you don’t like the person for some particular reason or if you deem the person unfit to recommend, for whatever reason, don’t beat around the bush, and in this case you can say that you just haven’t had a positive experience with them so far and have yet not seen the bet of their capabilities yet.
3.A good excuse, although not very professional, is to skirt the issue till the employee understands.Simply tell them a few times that you haven’t had the time to draft the letter as you have been so busy.Lastly you can simply ask them to request another faculty member for the letter as you are too busy.
Turn down a reference letter request to a student
1.If you are a teacher wanting to say no to a student for some reason then start off by saying that the University or College that they are applying for is not up to the mark,and you do not feel a recommendation there would be sincere,therefore you are refraining from writing the reference letter.
2.If the students performance in the classroom,overall academics is not satisfactory or his character image {if he cuts class too much etc } is not good, you can say no by citing this.It is a valid and jut reason to decline writing a recommendation.
3.One way to say no to a student is if he is applying to college for Bachelor of Humanitarian studies and you teach him English Literature, then you can say that you would not be the right professor to endorse his application, and he should probably approach a teaching staff from a similar department as Humanities.
Things to Remember:
Your declination or rejection should be gradual and smooth.IT should be abrupt and blunt.Hearing a no for anything from anyone is a disappointing feeling.No one likes to be turned down,do it humanely and gracefully,especially for young college kid s they are more sensitive at that age.Older people in offices are harder and have already faced rejection in many ways in their life already ,so its easier for them to handle.