> In Germany, you can't even legally say somebody did a bad job at your company in a recommendation letter. Companies created a whole subtext to workaround that, it's crazy.

I don't think it's just about legality. Whether the recommendation letter is included in the application is at the distinction of the applicant. When you want it to reach the next company, you must write is so, that the former employee considers it to be a good recommendation.

It is, as Portuguese it surprised me a lot.

First of all, in southern countries we hardly do recommendation letters, if we do they usually ended up being written by ourselves and if the company agrees with the content, it gets signed.

Exactly because of this, you are supposed to give referrals that then talk whatever they feel like about the experience working with you was all about.

Having a whole legal process for recommendation letters, that have created a whole industry of hidden language that looks good on the surface but tells exactly otherwise, was a surprise to me.

https://www.betriebsrat.de/news/arbeitnehmer/achtung-arbeits...

https://www.zeugnisprofi.com/wissen/arbeitszeugnis-geheimcod...

https://www.orizon.de/de/karriereratgeber/arbeitszeugnis-ver...

Just some examples, there are lawyers that analyse recommendation letters as one of their services.