How to write a negative (bad) testimonial?

Author of the article: Sudakov A.P.

The requirement to provide a reference from your place of work is a fairly common occurrence. Therefore, it would be very useful for employers to know how to correctly draw up this document.

There is no single form according to which such a document is drawn up. In general, a testimonial is an assessment of an employee on behalf of his direct supervisor, executed in writing.

Data for compilation

The correct description contains the main qualities that characterize the employee, both personal and business, achievements and awards. When this document is drawn up, it is imperative to take into account why it is needed. If the document was requested by law enforcement agencies, then they are more interested in the person’s personal qualities and the quality of his interaction with colleagues; for a new employer, in addition to personal qualities, professional skills are also of interest.

This document is always written in the third person present or past tense. The document provides only facts, without comments or assessments.

Examples of positive characteristics (samples from the workplace)

Various situations arise when people need to participate in legal proceedings. In these cases, you are required to provide a reference from your last place of work. Much determines the type of process - criminal or civil. Each has its own nuances in describing an employee, emphasizing certain qualities.

A character reference is an important document that contains personal information about an employee, describing his personal and professional qualities. A document is drawn up depending on the requirements and authorities where it will be submitted. Previously, based on the compiled information, it is possible to draw a conclusion about the competence and personal qualities of a person.

How to compose

There are established rules that are usually relied upon when writing characteristics for a person.

1. The document is written on an A4 sheet.
2. Abbreviations in the document should be excluded. In the main part, you must indicate the employee’s achievements and his career in the company. It is necessary to highlight such things as serious projects, participation in large-scale projects, and the like.
3. If, while working at the enterprise, the employee improved his qualifications or participated in training, this must be included in the characteristics.
4. It is necessary to describe the personal qualities of the employee. This could be the ability to maintain good relationships with colleagues, behavior in conflict situations, punctuality, and the like.
5. Rewards and gratitude for good work must be indicated.

Typically, the employee’s direct supervisor is responsible for writing the characteristics. This document is signed by the person who compiled it. If the enterprise has a personnel department, then its employee also signs the document.

The specification is written on the company’s letterhead, has its own number and must be certified by the company’s seal.

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Yes, the day is rationed only on paper. In fact, you can sit at work for days. You can’t say anything - they’ll immediately tell you: “They’re giving you an increase for an irregular day.” Every day something is urgent because the head needs it, it’s even more urgent because it’s necessary to go to the Duma, and this is even more urgent because it’s a law, and strict deadlines are spelled out in it.

The fact that a person is in the civil service is already a characteristic, because his professional qualities allow him a priori to solve assigned (not always reasonable) tasks in a short time, regardless of personal time and for a meager salary!

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What does the document contain?

Such a document as a characteristic must contain the following:

• a header that contains the name of the organization, the serial number of the document, the last name, first name and patronymic of the person who compiled this document;
• last name, first name and patronymic of the employee for whom the document was drawn up;
• labor career and human activity, including previous places of work;
• penalties or rewards for the period of work;
• business and personal qualities of a person;
• the place to which the document will be submitted is usually written “at the place of request”;
• signature of the manager and date of preparation;
• seal of the organization.

The essence of the review

The characteristics contain an assessment of the professional and personal qualities of the employee. Among other things, the review displays:

• personal data;
• position held;
• work period;
• employee qualifications;
• attitude to work;
• career growth;
• moral qualities;
• character traits.

The review is usually drawn up by a representative of the administration, after which it is signed by the manager and attached with the seal of the enterprise. Responsibility regarding the accuracy of the data displayed in the document lies with the person who signed it. The form of characteristics is as follows:

• internal review – a document for use within the enterprise;
• external review – a document for use outside the enterprise.

Qualities set out in the document

The characteristics include both personal and business qualities, experience and level of knowledge. All this information can have both positive and negative connotations.

Business qualities

Positive:

• ability to organize the labor process;
• punctuality in achieving goals;
• quality of work performed;
• organizational skills;
• initiative;
• good relationships in the team;
• responsibility;
• high discipline;
• diligence.

Negative:

• lack of punctuality;
• lack of organization;
• the work is done “carelessly”;
• inability to demonstrate organizational skills;
• poor relationships in the team;
• lack of initiatives;
• irresponsibility;
• indiscipline.

Personal qualities

Positive:

• ability to communicate;
• activity;
• goodwill;
• charisma.

Negative:

• unsociability;
• conflict.

Knowledge and experience

Positive:

• knowledge at a sufficient level;
• availability of necessary skills;
• good work experience.

Negative:

• lack of knowledge;
• lack of skills;
• no or little work experience.

Features of a review of an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

The characteristics of an employee are not only requested by the police from the outside, but are also required to be applied within the department itself. The manager's feedback on the police officer is taken into account when deciding on his promotion, dismissal or transfer to another unit. It would seem that, due to the specific nature of the work of police officers, internal reviews of them should be written in a special way. However, the assessment document regarding a police officer still does not have a clear form and is drawn up according to the universal scheme given above.

Types of characteristics

The characteristics are:

• external;
• internal.

External are those characteristics that are provided to other organizations or government bodies. When drawing up such a document, it is necessary to clarify with the employee which specific characteristics should be emphasized, personal or business.

Internal characteristics are used within the enterprise itself and are used, for example, when an employee is transferred to another department or division. In such a document, it is necessary to focus specifically on the business qualities and working skills of the employee.

Characteristics from the place of work of a civil servant sample

The reference is certified by the manager or head of the HR department. Important formulations are solvency and salary level, level of professionalism, business potential, relationships with colleagues and responsibility.

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– usually this happens if an employee of the enterprise commits any offenses or if he is suspected of something. IMPORTANT INFORMATION! The third-party request does not always clearly define what type of information about the employee is required.

Examples of characteristics

Let's look at what a negative reference from a place of work looks like. A sample is given below.

LLC "Solntsevorot"

№567/13

Characteristics of Tatyana Leonidovna Gnezdilova, born 03/08/1984.

Gnezdilova Tatyana Leonidovna has been working at Solntsevorot LLC since January 2021. Holds the position of sales manager. The manager's responsibilities include the following:

• sale of enterprise products;
• interaction with clients;
• drawing up a marketing plan for the enterprise;
• searching for new product sales channels;
• maintaining contacts with clients; maintaining client records.

From the first days of working in the team, Gnezdilov T.L. showed herself to be a conflicted person. She repeatedly expressed her negative opinion about the company’s employees and its management. Expressed disdain for management and clients.

Professional skills of Gnezdilova T.L. not tall. There are no opportunities to improve professional potential.

In the course of fulfilling the assigned tasks, there were repeated delays in delivery of products due to the fault of this employee. The plan for selling products is not systematically fulfilled.

Gnezdilova T.L. repeatedly received disciplinary sanctions and reprimands due to being late for work and repeated absenteeism. This employee cannot cope with his immediate responsibilities.

Sumarkin M.V. 05/22/2018

About the ability to make decisions

Positive feedback:

1. It should be noted that the employee is able to analyze the facts and make a selection of the necessary information that forms the basis for the decisions he makes.
2. The employee has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to consider a variety of options to solve problems.
3. The employee is quickly trained and has the skills to separate the important from the unimportant.

Negative characteristic:

1. Some decisions are not sufficiently supported by facts. For this reason, the employee’s proposals were repeatedly returned to the manager for revision, while he had enough time to collect the necessary information.
2. In the future, it is recommended that the employee become better acquainted with the work process of the enterprise and provide documentation in the required format.

An approving review of an employee may contain the following wording:

1. The employee has the skills to plan work and is able to accurately set priorities.
2. The employee's attentiveness to details and the ability to assess the expected consequences of decisions made by the management of the enterprise.
3. Modifies his work plans.
4. Often his comments have a positive impact on the work of the enterprise.

Example of a negative characteristic:

1. The employee needs to work on his skills, because his work planning often leads to the completion of current tasks with low quality.
2. Omissions are often noticed in informing colleagues regarding the information that he expects from them.
3. This approach to work leads to the need for subordinates to stay late after work.
4. There is an inability to multitask.

Why do you need a characteristic?

A negative reference for an employee, a sample of which is given above, as well as a positive one, may be required for various authorities and cases . For example:

• upon dismissal;
• for law enforcement agencies;
• for rewarding;
• to court.

Depending on the place where this document is addressed, there is a need to emphasize various qualities of the employee.

Upon dismissal

When an employee resigns, the characterization must focus specifically on the employee’s business qualities and professional skills. It is also necessary to mention the personal qualities of a person that are directly related to his work.

If a person does not resign of his own free will, but is fired at the request of the employer, then this should also be noted in the description. It is worth writing down why this happened and what qualities were the reason for this.

For law enforcement agencies

The police will be more interested in a person’s personal qualities and the quality of his interaction with the team. Professional data will not be as relevant.

It is worth talking about the presence of incentives or penalties at work. If there were violations of the enterprise’s internal standards, then you need to remember that those violations that are more than one year old should not be included in the characteristics.

For awards

Rewarding an employee with a reward can occur for various reasons. This can be high moral qualities and impeccable work. A reference may be required as an appendix to a petition for nomination for an award. It would be appropriate here to mention the contribution made to the work of the team, participation in major projects, conferences and developments.

Such a document will have a number of features:

• the purpose of the characteristic is “submission for an award”;
• the merits in connection with which the award is being nominated should be indicated.

To court

The characterization for the court must be drawn up with special attention. This document may be required in court both in a criminal case and in a civil case. When making a sentence or decision in a case, the judge will be guided, among other things, by the reference from the place of work.

What is a negative characteristic for an employee{q}

CHARACTERISTIC

25.04.2019

Fedor Fedorovich Fedorov, born in 1985, has been an employee of the Allur Youth Sports School since 2014. He worked as a stable boy.

Despite some positive character traits and external activity, Fedorova F.F. can be characterized as an employee with low professional potential. He often failed to cope with his immediate responsibilities. Without constant monitoring, he did not monitor the quality of forage storage, the availability of drinking water for horses, or the condition of the animals. The school lost one of the horses because Fedorov F.F. did not pay attention to the first symptoms of the disease.

He has proven himself to be a disorganized and undisciplined employee. He was often late without a good reason and missed meetings.

He did not participate in the social life of the school, had no friends among his colleagues, and, moreover, several times entered into serious conflicts.

He committed violations of his job description, neglected internal labor regulations, and did not strive to improve his professional level. At the same time, he did not tolerate criticism addressed to him; he reacted unrestrainedly and aggressively to comments.

He was repeatedly subjected to disciplinary action and was deprived of bonuses several times.

Was dismissed at the initiative of the employer (caused serious harm to the health of horses).

Ivanov I.I.

Note!

June 09, 2021

What is the essence of the review{q}

The employee profile contains an assessment of the person’s professional and personal qualities. Other information is also provided there. It is based on:

• personal data;
• the position the person holds;
• its service life;
• qualifications and specialization;
• success in the work path;
• attitude to work;
• moral qualities;
• some characteristic features.

Every employee should have such a document. Thanks to it, you can assess a person’s qualifications and make decisions regarding his further employment.

A representative of the administration is capable of writing a review of any content (positive or negative). Then the letter of recommendation is signed by the head of the company and recorded with the appropriate seal.

All characteristics can be divided into two main types: external and internal. The first assessment option contains information that can be used outside the enterprise. Internal characteristics, on the contrary, are used exclusively within the walls of one company.

How to make an assessment and avoid mistakes will be presented below.

There are no restrictions on the form of the review, however, when compiling it, it is still recommended to adhere to certain rules. The document is printed in A4 format.

It is advisable that these be company letterheads. The assessment must be completed by a responsible employee. It is advisable for the head of the company to do this.

As mentioned above, a letter of recommendation for an employee must be certified by a seal.

When compiling, it is necessary to adhere to a certain structure. The review is based on the title part, a paragraph and 4 more sections.

The title must include the company details, the date the assessment was compiled and the title of the document. The first section, or paragraph, contains the person’s full name, year of birth and information about his education.

In the second part, it is necessary to indicate the position held, when the employee was hired, his personal promotions and successes.

The last section aims to indicate the destination of the characteristic. A well-written sample will help you draw up the document. You can build on the information presented above.

What will be superfluous in the document

There are no regulations for drawing up characteristics, but still, there are certain taboos for this document. The document should not contain:

• emotions;
• insults;
• false information;
• the employee’s personal views on politics, religion, etc.;
• errors in spelling words and constructing sentences.

If the above restrictions occur in the issued characteristic, then it can be appealed in court. If an employee does not agree with the reference given to him, then he can attach his written explanations to it.

General writing rules

There is no unified form for a police job description and is written in free form. There are only traditional recommendations regarding the structure of the document. It includes:

• header (full details of the organization, date of writing, originating number);
• personal data (full name of the employee, date of birth, information about education and marital status);
• information about work activity at the enterprise (period of work, positions held, significant achievements, availability of incentives or disciplinary sanctions);
• information about business and personal qualities (professional knowledge, abilities and skills; management experience, degree of conflict, nature of relationships with colleagues);
• an indication of which organization and for what purposes the document is being sent.

The text of the employee's characteristics for the police or other official cases is written on company letterhead, certified by the manager's signature and seal (if there is one). Such a document has legal force.

An example of an employee profile for official structures