PeopleMuster

Employment verification letter

Verification letters answer a screener's checklist and stop. Volunteering an extra sentence is how a routine reply turns into a problem nobody expected.

Send this when a background-screening desk, a new employer or an agency asks you to confirm employment. A letter describing the work in detail is an experience certificate, and a letter of opinion is a reference.

[COMPANY NAME]
[COMPANY ADDRESS]

Ref: [VERIFICATION REFERENCE]
Date: [DATE OF ISSUE]

To: [REQUESTING ORGANISATION]
Attention: [REQUESTER NAME]

Subject: Employment verification for [FULL NAME OF EMPLOYEE]

Dear [REQUESTER NAME],

In reply to your request dated [DATE OF REQUEST], we confirm the following.

- Full name as held: [FULL NAME OF EMPLOYEE]
- Employee code: [EMPLOYEE CODE]
- Employment status: [CURRENT / FORMER]
- Dates of employment: [DATE OF JOINING] to [DATE OF LEAVING OR "present"]
- Job title held on the last day worked: [JOB TITLE]
- Department: [DEPARTMENT]
- Employment type: [FULL TIME / PART TIME / FIXED TERM]

We are not able to confirm [ITEM DECLINED], as that falls outside what we release.

A signed authorisation from the individual is held on our file, dated [DATE OF CONSENT].

Any query on this reply should come to me directly on the line below.

Yours sincerely,

[SIGNATORY NAME], [SIGNATORY TITLE]
[SIGNATORY EMAIL AND DIRECT LINE]

What to put in each blank

[ITEM DECLINED]
Name what you will not confirm, and delete the line if you confirmed everything asked.
[DATE OF CONSENT]
Date the authorisation you hold. Without one, pause and go back to the individual.
[CURRENT / FORMER]
Pick one word. Screeners sort replies on this field before they read anything else.
[DATE OF REQUEST]
Quote their date so the reply is matched to the right file at their end.

Before you send it

  • Answer only what was asked. A screener's form is narrow on purpose, and so is a good reply.
  • Hold a signed authorisation before you answer anything, including a phone call.
  • Route every verification through one named person. Verification answered by whoever picks up the phone is how inconsistent replies happen.
  • What may be released, and what consent is needed, differs by country and by contract. Agree your own line in advance and apply it every time.

Repeat requests like these run well as an SOP template in PeopleMuster, instantiated per request with an owner

Questions people ask about this letter

Should we answer a verification request by phone?

Call back on a published number rather than replying to whoever rang in. Then send the written reply, so one version exists rather than two.

Can we decline to answer part of a request?

Yes, and saying so plainly is better than silence. Name the item you will not confirm, so the screener records a refusal rather than an unanswered question.

How is this different from a reference?

A verification confirms facts from a record. A reference gives an opinion about how someone worked. The first can be answered by any HR administrator; the second cannot.

Other templates