Work Experience Certificate: Defination, Format and more

Work experience certificates are an important requirement for candidates looking to pursue postgraduate courses across popular universities abroad. A work experience letter not only vouches for your employment with your organisation but also speaks about the seriousness of the candidate to the admission committee. Read on as we discuss the merits of the work experience certificate and the right experience letter format to be followed.

Work experience certificates are an important requirement for Indian students and applicants looking to study postgraduate courses (primarily MBA and MS courses) abroad. Top universities abroad require candidates to present work experience certificates as part of their application process for their highly sought-after MS and MBA courses.

A work experience certificate not only adds value to the candidate's overall profile when applying to the university but also speaks about the applicant's seriousness towards his preferred course. This article will help you to understand the importance of Work experience certificate for studying abroad.

What is a Work Experience Certificate?

As you would have guessed by now, a Work Experience Certificate is a professional document or a formal letter written on a company letterhead documenting an employee's prior employment history, key responsibility areas (KRAs), acquired abilities/skills, accomplishments during his tenure and above all a summary of his overall performance assessment. The work experience certificate is written by the human resources team of the organization closely based on the inputs received from the head of the department and the manager(s) of the concerned applicant who would require the experience letter.

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Importance of a Work Experience Certificate

In this section, we are going to understand the importance of the work experience certificate on a candidate’s application profile.

1. Popular universities abroad are looking for candidates who have prior work experience as this expresses the applicant’s genuine curiosity and enthusiasm for his preferred subject.
2. Work experience letters help to elevate a candidate profile that could be otherwise sinking due to subpar projects or internships undertaken previously.
3. Prior work experience letters simply mean the candidate is bringing more to the table (university) than a non-experienced person who might not have any prior work experience.
4. A candidate with prior experience is likely to have faced many challenges through case studies and tutorials which would only translate to educational experiences to be shared in the class among peers
5. Hands-on work experience also provides candidates with additional confidence and skills that a classroom might not.
6. Work experience also provides an applicant with a chance to understand more about the subject in detail and the industry better by way of interaction and conversations with peers and colleagues at his workplace.

Work Experience Letter Format

All professional documents should follow an established format. The experience letter is no different. In this section, we are going to be discussing the letter format for experience letters for candidates who have prior work experience and are looking to submit an experience letter to their university for pursuing postgraduate courses. The must-haves on an experience letter format are as follows: 

1. The experience certificate must be typed on the organization’s business or official letterhead. This provides the authenticity of the employment of the applicant. This is a major requirement of the experience certificate format.
2. The experience certificate format must include the address ‘to whom it may concern’ of a specific individual, company or both.
3. The experience certificate format must have the date and year on which the experience letter is being created. The date of issue of the experience certificate should ideally be the second line, upper right corner.
4. The name of the employee or applicant must be mentioned in the work experience letter.
5. It is important that in the letter format for experience letter, the candidate is mentioned by name, title and designation he holds/held in the organization.
6. The work experience letter should also note down all key responsibility areas (KRAs), achievements during his tenure, and the overall conduct of the candidate during his time at the organization. This is an important part of the exp certificate format which should ideally include the manager's comments and work-related observations.
7. A work experience certificate is incomplete without mentioning the date of hiring, resignation and final day of employment (Last working day).
8. The experience certificate format should conclude with the official stamp of the company accompanied by the signature of the director, head of the department or the human resources head.

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Work Experience Letter vs Relieving Letter

In this section, we are going to take a look at the difference between an experience letter and a relieving letter.

Applicants looking to study abroad should be aware that the work experience letter is an integral part of the student application profile. However, this is one of the several requirements for the admission process. Along with work experience letters, candidates would also require a Statement of Purpose (SOP), Letter of Recommendation (LOR), and resume among other documents as part of the admission process., Candidates looking for assistance with university applications should reach out to our Shiksha Counselling Services for assistance with university admissions.