The Workplace Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for members of the workforce navigating the professional setting. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I'm a university student so I have very little to no workplace experience but a couple of years ago I did an internship in an office setting for which I revived a glowing letter of recommendation.
I have been invited to interview for a position over summer vacation but was unable to attach a recommendation letter while going through the application process. Should I mention this letter during interview or am I overestimating the importance of this document?
A letter of recommendation is not nearly so valuable as a verbal recommendation. A good hiring manager will want to talk to your references, to hear nuances in their voices, to find other references, and to hear things that a reference might not be willing to write in a letter that you see.
Therefore, it's fine to take the letter when you interview and offer it, but make sure you have current contact information for the person who wrote the letter, and offer that as one of your references. You could say something like "I received this letter of recommendation, but I'm sure you'll want to talk to my references too. I've made a copy of the letter for you, and there is current contact information on it, so you can call and talk to my reference too."
