Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Mark C. Perna is a generational expert who covers education & careers.

Here is a common scene: A supervisor agrees to write your letter of recommendation with one condition—you draft it. Shocker. We, too, were surprised the first time this happened to us. We assumed ...

Your interviews have gone well, and the prospective employer is impressed by you and your qualifications. But before they send out an offer letter, they will need to do one last thing: a reference ...

Jeff Tompkins is a writer and teacher of English as a Second Language living in New York City. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1967 and was educated at Brown University and University College ...