Ask someone to be your reference, and make it easy to say yes
A reference who is called by an employer without warning has to answer from memory. Asking first, with the role and the date, lets the person prepare and gives them a polite way to decline. Enter who you are writing to, how you worked together, the job and the deadline, and you get an email in the tone you choose. It is a fill-in template, not AI.
For example: Friday, the 20th.
Finish the sentence “We worked together when …”.
One per line, up to four.
Private The text is assembled inside your browser and is never sent anywhere. What you type is kept only in this browser so the page remembers it; “Clear” erases it.
How the email is put together
The email has the same order in every tone: what you are applying for and the request, how you know each other, what the employer will ask of the person and by when, optional points that matter for this job, and a sentence that makes it easy to decline. The first line of the output is the subject.
“Warm” suits someone you know well, “formal” a former manager you have not spoken to for a while or a professor, “short” a close colleague. Fields you leave empty drop their sentences. The text is assembled in your browser, and you send it yourself.
Questions about the reference request email
Who should I ask to be a reference?
Someone who saw your work closely and can describe it: a former manager first, then a senior colleague, a client or a teacher. Ask before you give their name to an employer.
When should I ask for a reference?
Before you hand over the person’s name, and with enough time for them to prepare. The email names the date so they can see whether it fits their calendar.
What should I send with the request?
Your current resume and the job description, plus two or three points that matter for this job. A reference who knows what the employer is looking for can give examples that fit.
What if the person says no?
Thank them and ask someone else. The template ends with a line that makes declining easy, because you want a reference from someone who is glad to give one.
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