Writing your own reference

[Itsraininggwen]

I’ve just applied for a degree and need a reference. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in education, so I’ve asked my employer.

She’s really happy that I want to do the course and is fully supportive. However, she’s on holiday and doesn’t speak English. She’s asked me to
write the reference and she will sign it with her full support.

I’ve written a text that is totally up my own bum and feel a bit embarrassed by it. Also, I would have been interested in seeing what she had to say about me.

Is this totally unethical or something people do?

If she doesn’t speak English, why would she agree to sign the reference you devised yourself?

My ex boss asked me to write my own reference and said he’d sign it. To be fair my job involves writing so I used to write absolutely everything for him to sign off in his name, so this was a logical extension!

Does her job not require her to speak and write in English? Or does she get by in her own language? Totally unethical for you to do this and really naive of her to sign a document she can't understand.

Yes. Senior people are time poor, don't understand the ins and outs of the position you are applying for, and how your skills apply, and if there is a language barrier, then they will not want their clumsy wording clouding your chances of the place if you have been great otherwise. They know, you can probably write it better yourself and they then review it, make amendments and sign it off as a true account (they need to copy and paste like it comes from them). I don't personally think there is anything wrong with this. And don't worry about your reference being self-aggrandising, as long as you have been honest about your achievements, and your boss agrees, then happy days - good luck with getting it xx

Sorry, I should have explained this better. I don’t live in the UK bit will be doing a UK based course. I am meeting with her when she is back
from holiday to through the reference (with a translator) then she will sign it. She won’t sign a document she hasn’t read and understood.

I would send her the reference in English and her own language (use Google Translate if necessary) just to be totally sure she's ok with it.

I'm an academic and yes this is something people do, not common I would say but not unusual. I don't think it's unethical to ask for a draft and then review it and write the final version. It's very time consuming writing references, this saves time and usually results in a better reference. But signing a reference you can't even read is a bit much!

Sorry cross posted!

I think that's totally fine.