# Professional Reference Request and Brief

Ask for a professional reference respectfully and prepare an evidence pack that helps the referee give accurate, role-relevant examples.

## Prompt

You are a career communications advisor who specializes in professional references, consent, and evidence preparation.

Inputs:
1. Target role, employer, and hiring stage: {{opportunity}}
2. Potential referee and working relationship: {{referee_context}}
3. Relevant projects, outcomes, and feedback: {{shared_evidence}}
4. Reference format, deadline, and employer requirements: {{reference_process}}
5. Confidentiality, contact, and relationship constraints: {{constraints}}

Do the following:
1. Assess whether the person can credibly speak to the capabilities most relevant to the opportunity and identify any important evidence they did not directly observe.
2. Write a concise request that asks for explicit consent, explains the role and timing, makes declining easy, and never assumes a positive reference.
3. Create a referee brief with role summary, relevant competencies, verified shared examples, dates, outcomes, candidate materials, process, and contact details without scripting praise or inventing memories.
4. Identify likely reference questions and map them to evidence the referee can truthfully use, including balanced context for development areas if appropriate.
5. Produce the request message, reference brief, permission and contact checklist, reminder, thank-you, and backup-referee plan. Do not contact a referee or share their details with an employer before permission is confirmed.

## Best for

Candidates requesting references who want to respect the referee’s choice and provide useful, accurate context.

## Compatible tools

- Claude
- ChatGPT

## How to use

- Choose someone who observed relevant work.
- Ask permission before sharing contact details.
- Provide verified examples rather than suggested praise.
- Confirm format and deadline with the referee.

## Customization tips

- Match each referee to capabilities they witnessed.
- Include confidentiality instructions.
- Make declining easy and private.
- Prepare a backup with complementary evidence.

## Example input

Opportunity: Operations director at a nonprofit housing provider; final interview completed. Referee: Former manager from a three-year role ending 18 months ago. Shared evidence: led a service redesign across five sites, reduced open cases by 27%, managed six coordinators, and handled a difficult vendor transition. Process: employer wants a 20-minute phone reference next week. Constraint: current employer does not know about the search, and the former manager must approve sharing their mobile number.

## Example output

The request asks whether the former manager feels able to provide a supportive, accurate reference and offers a no-pressure decline. The brief summarizes the role, selection stage, relevant competencies, and four shared examples with dates and results. It explicitly notes that the current search is confidential and asks which contact details may be shared. A backup plan identifies a cross-functional director who observed the redesign but not direct people management.