How to write a letter of NOT recommendation?

Well, I would bring it up with whoever makes the rules and say you don't feel comfortable about writing a letter.  Can't force you to say something good about someone when they don't deserve it.

In Nevada, you are not allowed to say anything negative about a former employee if a perspective employee should inquire (or there are specific things you are allowed).  If you have nothing you want to say, you simply say "I have nothing to say" which speaks volumes.

It seems silly that even though it's a "requirement" for you to write a letter, that an institute of higher learning would insist you fabricate something just to follow a rule.  I would abstain, and explain to someone higher up why you did.

To Whom it May Concern,
I have been supervising Susie for the past three years in her assistant teaching role. During this time I've gotten a good feel for her capabilities and style.

Susie has a strong skill set of X, Y, and Z. She has fully met expectations in this area and that area. We've also discussed opportunities for improvement in the areas of A and B - these are critical skills Susie is aware she needs to develop in order to be successful. I've reinforced with her the importance of these competencies, and she has taken steps to begin improvement in these areas. Once Susie has fully developed these critical competencies, she will be equipped to meet expectations as a professional teacher.

Sincerely,
TriJedi

Well crafted. I'd point out that Lisa included the fact that you had discussed the areas of improvement with the student teacher and I hope that is actually the case. The person you are writing a letter of recommendation for should never be surprised by what you've written.

I'm surprised that anyone is still writing letters of recommendation. In our litigious society it's just not worth the hassle and potential risk. You write a glowing recommendation and the new employer is dissatisfied they sue you. You write a negative one the the employee sues.

My last two employers have policies forbidding anyone from writing recommendations. You call HR and they'll give you titles and dates of employment--that's about it. Call the supervisor/manager and they'll refer you to HR. That's probably how I'd handle recommendations if I was a business owner.

In my line of work we are frequently asked to recommend or not recommend someone for a position.

It goes like this:

Q - "would you recommend X for position Y?

A - "No"

The end.

I like it.  

In my 18 years in the corporate world, I can promise you we never said or wrote anything like that. We'd fluff it up a lot and then pass it through HR. The message was the same, though.

Yeah, that's why I couldn't work in the corporate world, or have any desire to.  When one of my people does something stupid that doesn't require a formal reprimand, I'm real happy to just be able to say, "stop being an idiot".  We don't fluff anything, which is good, because I don't see the point.  I don't care about hurting your feelings, I only care that the job gets done right.  Luckily, my job doesn't attract people with big feelings.

I saw a letter of recommendation a few years ago that a professor wrote about one of his graduate students.

It went something like "Miss Smith is well-groomed and has good personal hygene". 

Mark

I left and am now learning how to run a business. I had enough fluff and politics. Now I get twice as much done in half the time, and only hire people who are as annoying as myself

We urge you to waste no time in making this person an offer of employment: We can't get rid of him!

I struggled with this exact issue last week. I've never had to write a letter that wasn't almost all positive. I haven't been on BT much lately. Guess that serves me right. If I would have just been here, it would have been a lot quicker letter to write.....