Boss wants me to write own rec letter

[Marcion]

Hi all,

So Wake Forest "strongly recommends" that applicants have a letter from their supervisor at their current place of employment, should they be employed. On the phone, I was told that the letter from the supervisor at my previous job was not ideal. So after asking my boss, she told me she was going to be very busy this month, but would be willing to submit a letter if I did most of the writing.

My questions are:
1) Is this ethical?
2) Do I need to mark this as a non-confidential letter? She'll be editing the final product, to insert some of her own information and some quotes from my feedback forms, so technically I will not have read the letter that has been submitted. But, well, I wrote most of it...

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[JustAPhD]

Can't speak for all fields/jobs, but this happens a lot in research.

 

[deleted407021]

Sorry you're in this situation. I would be cautious, here. If she asked you to do this, then I get the impression that she doesn't understand her roll as a letter writer and how a letter fits into your application. That, or perhaps she's particularly apathetic, which is a big red flag for someone whose job it is to make you look good.

No sure what others are going to suggest, but I'd start with very carefully and patiently helping her understand why it's important that she write the letter.

If it helps, offer to provide a rubric of points she can hit on, so all she needs to do is meet your list. That way, she can spend less time working on it and you can have more input and help ensure that she does a good job so far as speaking to what you need emphasized. You get more peace of mind and you dot have to lie about never seeing it.

 

[rilte4]

This is pretty common. The letter's still considered confidential, as long as you waive your right to see the final letter that'll be submitted.

 

[gyngyn]

It's fine.
They can use all or none of it.
Follow these guidelines: https://www.aamc.org/download/351978/data/letters-printfriendly.pdf

 

[mistafab]

Dude -

Chill out, it is fine.

This happens all the time. You write a letter to give a general idea of what you've done, they edit it and polish your work. They end up scrapping most of it since you suck at writing - it is all good. What you are doing is showing them that you are willing to do the work, the reason you were hired in the first place.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Super common in the military. They aren't going to be intimately familiar with you, and prewriting a letter for them gives them something to go off. In many cases, they do not simply sign what you've written, but use it as a template. Think of it as giving them a detailed resume.