These days, recommendation letters are all electronic. It is possible, sometimes, to game the system. One year I served on a hiring committee while applying fo

These days, recommendation letters are all electronic. It is possible, sometimes, to game the system. One year I served on a hiring committee while applying for a handful of other jobs. Although I didn't, I could have read my own letters by applying for the job opening in my own department. Even if you don't do that, rec letters sometimes say things like "X is better than Y", with predictable results if/when they get read by Y.