vj1974

Hi,
CIC, Buffalo sent a letter to me asking for Letters of reference (employment) detailing my present and previous work experience. My current employer is my first employer and my employer will not issue a letter of reference with details. May I use other letter like salary hike letter for the reference or just write a letter to CIC explaining the problem.
Please advise…

Thanks,
Vj

PMM

Hi VJ

Nope, any letter that you write will be considered self serving and will carry little weight. You are going to have to find a work around, such as saying you need the letter for to apply for a bank loan or whatever. Without a letter from the employer stating your duties, you may be out of luck.

PMM

orazone

Dont you have co-workers ?? Just request them to write down all details about your work and sign the letter.

mhhp

You could use the job posting from when you were hired on or some other company document describing your duties

amina

Have you tried talking to your employer (on good mood) on why can't he issue a detailed letter of reference? Did you tell that him that it won't consume much of his time considering that this can be accomplished even on a single sheet of paper? You should tell him that he doesn't need brainstorming in doing your simple request. Also, don't you have an HR Department that handles matters like these?

going2canada

Is Reference letter enough from the past employers or it is necessary to have some other support documents?

orazone

Amina,
Many employers have policy not to write down details. I dont know why but I asked one guy and he said , bcaz in the past some people took them to court to prove the stuff they wrote in the reference letter. I dont know if its true or not.
Faisal.

amina

Yeah, I understand that this is indeed happening to some of us. But here's my suggestion to VJ, why not make a draft of your duties and resposibilites by yourself then present to your employer for clarification/correction. (Do this with your utmost humility). Do tell him the purpose of this document. If the draft is edited and agreeable between you and your boss, retype it, make it formal then have it signed. Hope this works.

MJ23

I was honest with my employer and told exactly why I needed the letter. My boss actually told me to write the letter. He signed it, because everything in the letter was true. I can't see why they would mind signing it if everything is correct. May be I'm just lucky and I have a great boss.

orazone

Yes, thats right. I also did the same. I even presented CIC's Initial Assessment letter to my employer clearly telling him what they are looking for. My employer asked me to write a letter and put all the required info there. I did the same and he signed it. My HR manager even added lines like Mr. ABCs Employment is garanteed till Jan, 2006 and at this time his salary is x $ /year.