Speaking of a letter of recommendation...

There is a guy at the company that fired me when I did not return from the disability leave that followed the suicide attempt. Let us call them company A. He worked with me for several months. He is an engineering manager. He wrote the most glowing performance review for me, which sure helped when I got promoted (I am a weirdo - I was commiting suicide several months after being promoted ).

Then there was a suicide attempt, he knew about it - the whole mess.

Later on, when I was looking for a job and just beginning to build my LinkedIn profile, I asked him for a recommendation. He declined, citing as his reason company A's policy not to provide recommendations. I inquired further and found out that company A does not provide personal references but LinkedIn recommendations are allowed. In fact, I have a LinkedIn recommendation from my first tech lead, from several colleages, and from one former report, all from company A. But I never asked this guy, Steven, again. I never wrote to him saying "You know, there is no such policy - look at all the recommendations on my profile!".

And now I am thinking that maybe I should ask him. If he declines, this will reveal his real reason: he does not want to have anything to do with me. I will understand. I won't die. But if he agrees, I will send the recruiter and the hiring manager a link to my updated profile for them to take a look. This will really show them that I am seriously interested.

At the same time on some level I am afraid of his rejection.

What do you think? Is it worth a try? If you think it is worth a try, can you help me draft a letter to Steven?