Letter of Recommendation

Departmental Policies

1. The department sends out 125 sets of recommendation letters free of charge for each student. Letters sent electronically count towards the 125 sets.
2. The department may be able to send out additional letters, at a cost, but not until 125 sets of letters have been sent out for each student.
3. The set of letters may contain up to 4 recommendations. The same set of letters will be sent to all employers. This means that if a student requests 4 letters of recommendation the 4 letters will go to all employers, rather than recommenders A, B and C to some employers, and B, C and D to other employers.
4. Letters from referees must remain the same throughout the job market period for each student. This means that each recommender must write a letter that can go to both academic and non-academic employers, and to all institutions to which the candidate is applying. This is a limitation, but with over 10,000 letters to send out we cannot do otherwise.
5. Recommenders must send letters to Vickie in PDF format. (Letters should be signed before being put in PDF format.)
6. The final deadline for sending letters to Vickie is NOVEMBER 10, 2016. Most recommendation letters must be received by December 1. However, for letters of recommendation that have earlier deadlines, Kelly must receive the letter at least two weeks before the deadline.
7. For hard copy recommendations, students must fill out the address template (please follow the instructions below).
8. For electronically submitted letters, Vickie will send out letters in batch. For example, Jane Doe's 4 letters of recommendation will be sent out to 50 email addresses at once. Unless otherwise specified, the subject line will be: Jane Doe - Letters of Recommendation. The 50 addressees will be "BCC"ed so that employers do not know where else the letters are being sent.

Instructions for Electronic Applications:

1. Create an excel file like this one for electronic applications
2. The first sheet is for simple email addresses with no special instructions, the second sheet is for websites and the final sheet is for email addresses that require a special subject line.

Instructions for Generating Labels:

The following instructions assume that you are using Microsoft Office 2007 or a later version. If you are using Microsoft Office 2003 and need assistance, please email Vickie.

1. Download label_addresses.xls and label_template.doc and save them both to a directory of your choice.
2. Open the document label_addresses.xls. (Please, do not, at any stage of this procedure, alter any formatting or column widths in this Excel document. All you should do is enter the relevant information as instructed. If you want to copy and paste information into this file rather than typing it in, then all text should be made left-aligned Times New Roman 11 point normal font before pasting it into this spreadsheet.) Replace the sample addresses in this spreadsheet with the addresses where you would like your references to be sent. Note that one address goes in each row, with the first line of the address going in column A, the second line in column B, and so on, up to a maximum of six lines/columns per address. The Excel column width (4") reflects the width of the label, so if you leave the column width unchanged, then if your text fits within the column, it will also fit on the label.
3. Once you have finished entering all your addresses, save this document and quit Excel.
4. Open the document label_template.doc. The message that you get at this point may vary by platform. If asked for the workbook and cell range, click OK. (Please do not, at any stage of this procedure, alter any formatting in this Word document.) Similarly, if you are warned that a SQL command will run, click OK.
5. Go to the Table Layout tab in the Ribbon and make sure that the "View Gridlines" option is selected. These gridlines do not appear on the printed labels, but help to show on the screen whether the text is too close to the edge of a label.
6. Go to the Mailings tab and click on the "Select Recipients" icon from the toolbar. Select the "Use Existing List" option, then find and select the label_addresses.xls spreadsheet that you have saved to your preferred directory. On the next screen, make sure that the "First row of data contains column headers" option is checkmarked, then click "OK."
7. Go back to the Mailings toolbar and click on "Preview Results." This will display the entries from the label_addresses.xls spreadsheet in the Word document, allowing you to review the results. Check through the labels to ensure that everything seems to be formatted correctly.
8. Go back to the Mailings toolbar and click on "Auto Check for Errors." When the dialogue box comes up, select your preferred option for reviewing potential errors and click "OK." This will complete the merge and open a new document titled "Labels1". (Please do not, at any stage of this procedure, alter any formatting in this Word document.) Address any errors and double check that all your labels meet with your own approval. If they do not, quit Word, load label_addresses.xls, and repeat these instructions starting at step 2.
9. If you are happy with the labels, save "Labels1" as LASTNAME.DOC. (Please, do not, at any stage of this procedure, alter any formatting in this Word document.) Print this document and get Vickie's approval in the main office, ignoring any error messages that your documents falls outside the margins.
10. If your labels receive Vickie's approval, then send her an e-mail with LASTNAME.DOC as an attachment. If they do not, quit Word, load label_addresses.xls, and repeat these instructions starting at step 3.

Notes:

• Do not change the font! All text must be left-aligned Times New Roman 11 point normal.
• Do not open both files (label_addresses.xls and label_template.doc) at the same time. If you do, Excel may not let you save changes.