The career planning process takes place throughout a student’s experience at Miami. We encourage you to utilize and refer your students to the many programs and services the Career Center offers:

• Encourage students to visit the Career Center as early as their first year
• Develop a resume in a student’s first year
• Complete their Handshake profile and select their Career Clusters in the student's first year
• Invite a Career Center divisional liaison to your classroom to discuss customized career topics
• Start talking to students about finding an internship — the Career Center can help

The following information may be helpful as you approach writing a letter of reference.

• Letter of Reference and FERPA Release Form
• Identify the student and the capacity in which you came to know him or her. If the contact was primarily through having the student in class(es), please give the course name(s), not just the number(s).
• Give evidence of the student’s knowledge, maturity, understanding of material or other aspects of development during the period you knew him or her.
• Future employers as well as graduate schools will be evaluating candidates on the basis of the following factors, among others:
  • communication skills (written and oral)
  • willingness to take initiative
  • level of motivation
  • planning and organizational skills
  • technical or professional knowledge or skills
  • flexibility/adaptability
  • interpersonal skills
  • willingness to accept responsibility/leadership
  • analytical/problem-solving ability
  • group interaction and team-working skills
• Any information you can give to support the student’s candidacy with reference to these attributes would be helpful.
• Accent the positive and try to qualify any negative statements with evidence of the ways in which a student is dealing with the problem. If you feel you cannot give a positive recommendation, it is best to let the student know!
• Ask the student to provide you with a copy of his or her resume, which can enhance your own comments. Also, it would be helpful if you asked the student to share his or her career goals with you. This could also strengthen your comments.