An experience certificate records what a person did and for how long. It is distinct from a relieving letter, which records that the employment ended. Both may be issued; do not merge them, because the next employer’s verification process treats them as different documents.
Experience Certificate
[COMPANY NAME]
An experience certificate records what a person did and for how long. It is distinct from a relieving letter, which records that the employment ended. Both may be issued; do not merge them, because the next employer’s verification process treats them as different documents.
[COMPANY NAME] CIN: [CIN] [REGISTERED OFFICE]
TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN
This is to certify that [EMPLOYEE NAME], [son / daughter of] [NAME], was employed with [COMPANY NAME] from [DATE OF JOINING] to [LAST WORKING DAY].
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name | [EMPLOYEE NAME] |
| Employee identification number | [ID] |
| Period of employment | [DATE] to [DATE] |
| Total service | [YEARS] years [MONTHS] months |
| Designation at the time of joining | [DESIGNATION] |
| Designation at the time of leaving | [DESIGNATION] |
| Department or function | [DEPARTMENT] |
| Place of work | [LOCATION] |
| Nature of employment | [Permanent / Fixed term / Full-time / Part-time] |
| Last drawn annual cost to company | [₹ ______ / Not stated — see the notes] |
Positions Held
| # | Designation | From | To | Department | Grade or level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [DESIGNATION] | [DATE] | [DATE] | [DEPARTMENT] | [GRADE] |
| 2 | [DESIGNATION] | [DATE] | [DATE] | [DEPARTMENT] | [GRADE] |
| 3 | [DESIGNATION] | [DATE] | [DATE] | [DEPARTMENT] | [GRADE] |
Responsibilities
During the period of employment, [FIRST NAME] was responsible for:
•[DESCRIBE A PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITY — be specific about scope, and about scale where it is relevant]
•[RESPONSIBILITY]
•[RESPONSIBILITY]
•[RESPONSIBILITY]
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These notes accompany the template and explain the drafting choices, the compliance points and the mistakes most often made with this document. They appear as a final page in the Word file, intended to be deleted before the document is executed.
The relieving letter confirms that the employment ended and the person was relieved. The experience certificate records what the person did, for how long, and in what roles. Background verification agencies ask for both and treat them separately. Issue both where requested rather than trying to make one document serve.
The useful content is the scope of the role: what the person was responsible for, at what scale, and over what period. That is what the next employer is trying to establish. A certificate consisting mainly of praise, with no description of the work, tells a verification agency nothing and is treated with suspicion.
A statement that conduct and performance were satisfactory is conventional but is not required, and should not be included where it is not supported by the appraisal record. Where a person left following a performance process or a disciplinary matter, omit the assessment and issue a factual certificate. Do not write an adverse assessment into the certificate; the exposure to a defamation claim is real, and there is no obligation to volunteer it.
Some employers state the last drawn salary; many do not. Stating it assists a verification but also fixes the person’s negotiating position with the next employer, and salary is personal data that need not be disclosed in a document addressed to the world. The safer practice is to omit it from a to-whomsoever certificate and to confirm it separately, on request, through the verification channel.
Where a person held more than one role, list them with dates. A single designation for a five-year period understates a career and is the detail most often missing. It also matters where the next employer is verifying seniority rather than tenure.
The dates of joining and leaving must match the relieving letter, the settlement statement, the provident fund exit date and the employee register. Inconsistencies across these documents are exactly what a verification agency flags, and they generate queries the employer then has to resolve years later.
There is no reason to make a former employee ask twice. Where the request comes after the person has left, respond within a few days. A former employee chasing a certificate for weeks is a reputational cost that is entirely avoidable.
As with a relieving letter, withholding an experience certificate to enforce a notice period or a recovery causes disproportionate harm to the person and does not improve recovery of the money. Pursue any genuine claim separately.
Nominate a mailbox for verification and confirm only what appears in the certificate — dates, designations, department. Offering an opinion on a former employee in a verification call is where employers create liability. Where the person left in difficult circumstances, confirm the facts and say nothing further.
Where a person died in service, issue a service certificate to the family recording the period and the roles held. It is often needed for insurance, pension and benefit claims, and the family should not have to ask for it more than once.
Keep the signed copy on the personnel file for the statutory retention period. Verification requests routinely arrive several years after a person has left, and the file is the only reliable answer.
Reflects Indian practice current as of {{DATE OF USE}}. Record-retention periods and data-protection obligations affecting the disclosure of employee information change — confirm the current position before adopting this template across an organisation.
This is a ready-to-use template provided for convenience. Laws and requirements change, and every situation is different — please have it reviewed by a qualified professional (a lawyer, company secretary, or chartered accountant as relevant) before you rely on it.