Managing a Search

Requesting Letters of Recommendation

If an applicant was asked to provide a list of individuals who could be contacted for a letter of recommendation/reference, Administrators—on behalf of the search committee—can request letters from those contacts without involving the applicant in the request process. As letters are received, they will automatically be added to the applicant’s materials for review.

To request letters on behalf of an applicant, go to the applicant list and click on the applicant name. On the Applicant Profile page, click the Actions drop down menu and select Request recommendation.

Fill out the request form, set a due date for receipt of the letter, and write an email message to the letter writer. You can add files (e.g. CV) by clicking the ‘Add’ button beneath the message field. The letter writer will receive the message you create and appended file(s) along with instructions for submitting the letter.

You can request recommendations from more than one letter writer at a time by clicking ‘Add Another Recommender’ as indicated above. Add letter writer information and repeat as needed.

Use the variables for first and last name located in the informational box in the bottom right corner to have the AR module automatically personalize the invitation to all the letter writers you’ve entered. Cut and past the variables into your salutation line (i.e., Dear Professor %LW_First% %LW_Last%,).

To learn more about how to set Interfolio to automatically personalize the message sent to each letter writer, please review Automatically fill in the first and last names of recommenders when sending letter requests to multiple letter writers.

Once you have your email drafted, you can preview how your message will appear to recipients by clicking the ‘Preview’ button in the lower left corner.

To understand the reference submission process from the letter writer’s perspective, please review For External Evaluators: Guide to Providing Requested Evaluations.