Letter of Recommendation for a Coworker (Template + Example)
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When a coworker asks you for a recommendation, you are being asked to do something a manager cannot: vouch for what they are like to work next to. A boss sees outcomes and reviews; a peer sees the day-to-day, including who picks up the slack, who stays calm when a launch slips, and who is actually generous with their knowledge. That perspective is valuable, but only if the letter owns it. The fastest way to weaken a peer recommendation is to dress it up as a manager letter it is not.
Below is a recommendation letter written by one coworker about another, a breakdown of what each part does, guidance on handling the peer angle honestly, and a do-and-do-not list so your letter genuinely helps the colleague you are writing for.
Recommendation for a Coworker template
Written by a coworker, not a manager. Replace the names, roles, dates, and the example with your own real one.
Dear Hiring Manager,
I am glad to recommend Marcus Reyes, who I worked alongside as a fellow Software Engineer at Brightwave Media from January 2023 to May 2026. We were peers on the same platform team, not in a reporting relationship, so I can speak directly to what he is like as a teammate and collaborator over more than three years of working side by side.
The clearest example of how Marcus works came during our payments migration last year. We were partners on a two-person effort to move 40,000 active subscriptions onto a new billing provider with no downtime. When we hit an edge case that was silently dropping renewals, Marcus stayed late with me for three nights, traced it to a timezone bug in the retry logic, and wrote the regression tests that caught two more issues before launch. We shipped on schedule with zero failed renewals, and he made sure I understood every fix rather than just owning it himself.
That is the pattern I saw on every project we shared: he is the colleague who explains his reasoning instead of guarding it, who flags a problem early rather than hoping it disappears, and who makes the people around him better at their jobs. Two of our junior engineers came to him for reviews more than to anyone else on the team, and it showed in their work.
I recommend Marcus without reservation and would jump at the chance to work with him again. Please feel free to reach out if I can answer any questions about what he is like as a teammate.
Sincerely,
Elena Vasquez
What each part is doing
- The peer relationship: An opening line that states who you are, who you are recommending, and that you were coworkers, not their manager, including how long and on what you worked together. Owning the peer angle up front is what makes the letter credible.
- The shared example: A concrete story of a project or moment you and the coworker worked on together. Because you were there, a peer can describe this with detail no manager could, and it is the heart of the letter.
- The pattern of strengths: A short paragraph generalizing from that example to the qualities the coworker consistently showed as a teammate, especially collaboration, reliability, and how they treat others.
- The clear endorsement: A direct closing line that you recommend them, framed around what you can honestly speak to as a peer, plus an offer to be contacted. No hedging.
What to include in a coworker recommendation
Open by naming your relationship honestly: your name, your role, the coworker name, and the fact that you worked together as peers rather than in a reporting line. State how long and in what capacity. A reader who knows you were a colleague will trust your view of teamwork and day-to-day reliability precisely because you are not their boss, so make the relationship clear in the first sentence.
Then give one genuine example from a project you actually shared. The strongest material for a peer letter is a time you collaborated directly, because you can describe what the person did with first-hand detail. Include one concrete, quantified result if you can. End with an unambiguous statement that you recommend them and an offer to answer questions.
Handling the peer angle honestly
A coworker reference is most convincing when it stays in its lane. You can speak to how someone collaborates, communicates, handles pressure, and treats the team; you generally cannot speak to things only a manager sees, such as how they performed in formal reviews or hit revenue targets. Do not pretend otherwise. If anything, lean into the peer perspective as a strength, since a hiring manager already has the candidate former boss listed and is often genuinely curious what a teammate thinks.
It helps to ask the coworker what role they are applying for and which qualities matter most, then choose a shared example that shows exactly that. If they are moving into a more senior or cross-functional role, pick a moment where they led, unblocked others, or coordinated across teams, rather than a purely technical win.
What to avoid
Avoid a wall of generic adjectives. Great teammate and hard worker mean nothing without a story behind them, and a letter that is all praise and no evidence reads as a favor rather than a judgment. Do not overstate your relationship by implying you supervised them, and do not invent achievements; a reference that overclaims falls apart the moment someone asks a follow-up question.
Do not write a recommendation you do not believe. If you cannot endorse the coworker honestly, it is kinder and more professional to decline than to send something tepid that signals doubt between the lines. And keep it to one page; a focused half-page with one strong shared example beats three pages of filler.
Recommendation for a Coworker do's and don'ts
Do
- State that you were coworkers, not their manager, up front.
- Anchor the letter in one concrete project you shared.
- Include one quantified result if you can.
- Highlight collaboration, reliability, and how they treat the team.
- End with a clear, unhedged recommendation and a way to reach you.
Don't
- Do not imply you managed or supervised them.
- Do not rely on generic adjectives with no evidence.
- Do not exaggerate or invent achievements.
- Do not write one you cannot honestly stand behind.
- Do not let it run past a single page.
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Frequently asked questions
Can a coworker write a letter of recommendation?
Yes, and for some roles it is genuinely valuable. A peer can speak to how someone works day to day, collaborates, and handles pressure in ways a manager often cannot. The key is to be clear that you were a colleague rather than a supervisor, and to anchor the letter in a project you actually worked on together so your perspective carries weight.
How is a coworker recommendation different from a manager one?
A manager letter speaks to performance, outcomes, and how someone met expectations from above; a coworker letter speaks to teamwork, reliability, and what the person is like to work next to. The structure is the same, but a peer should lean into the side-by-side perspective rather than imitating a manager review. Honesty about the relationship is what makes it credible.
What should I say if I never directly worked with them?
Be honest about the limits of what you saw. If you sat near someone but never shared a project, a recommendation will sound thin, and readers notice. It is better to write about a real, if smaller, collaboration than to stretch a vague impression into a full letter, or to suggest a colleague who worked with them more closely.
What if I cannot write a strong recommendation?
It is better to decline politely than to write a lukewarm letter. A tepid reference can quietly hurt the coworker more than no letter at all, because readers notice the absence of enthusiasm. You can simply say you do not feel you are the best person to speak to their work, which is fair and professional.
Who should I address the letter to?
If you know the recipient, address them by name, for example Dear Ms. Carter. If you do not, Dear Hiring Manager or To Whom It May Concern is acceptable and standard for a general recommendation the coworker may reuse across applications.
