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 em­pha­sizes 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 un­fa­vor­able 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 resume, 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 behavior can lead to mistrust among 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 behavior, 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: Summarize 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 behavior: 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, stan­dard­ized 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 behavior. The focus here is on social skills and soft skills. Three aspects should be con­sid­ered when assessing social behavior:

• Behavior towards internal employees: superiors, col­leagues, and employees
• Conduct towards external parties: Customers and external contacts
• Other social behavior 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 behavior
• 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?

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