reference-list-builder

A guide for creating a professional list of people who can recommend you for a job.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to select references, format their contact information, prepare them for reference checks, and handle outreach.
Why use it?
It helps you choose suitable references and present their details clearly instead of assembling an incomplete or poorly formatted list.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/natsummerance/readmd/reference-list-builder
Any agent
npx skills add Natsummerance/readMD --skill reference-list-builder
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Natsummerance/readMD

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 12 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,907 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin 100% copy Near-identical to another mod in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00012 $0.01907
Opus 5 $0.00006 $0.00954
Sonnet 5 $0.00002 $0.00381
Haiku 4.5 $0.00001 $0.00191

Measured 2d ago against content hash ef4d07942777, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

reference-list-builder scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

This is a copy

100% identical to reference-list-builder — 0 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.

assets/upstream/paramchoudhary-ResumeSkills/74ae19e7c62b0516d1c298328e5544976c12da5d/skills/reference-list-builder/SKILL.md · 348 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 348 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Reference List Builder

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when the user:

  • Needs to create a professional reference list
  • Wants help choosing the right references
  • Needs to format references properly
  • Is preparing references for job applications
  • Mentions: "references", "reference list", "professional references", "reference check"

Core Capabilities

  • Format professional reference lists
  • Guide reference selection strategy
  • Prepare reference briefing materials
  • Anticipate reference check questions
  • Handle difficult reference situations
  • Coordinate reference outreach

Reference Strategy

Who Makes a Good Reference?

Ideal References:

  • Former direct managers (most important)
  • Senior colleagues who observed your work
  • Cross-functional partners
  • Clients or customers
  • Direct reports (for leadership roles)
  • Professors or advisors (for recent graduates)

Reference Hierarchy:

  1. Most Valuable: Recent direct supervisor
  2. Very Valuable: Senior leaders who know your work
  3. Valuable: Peers and cross-functional partners
  4. Acceptable: Clients, vendors, professors
  5. Avoid: Friends, family, HR contacts only

Who to Avoid

  • ❌ Current employer (without permission)
  • ❌ People who barely know you
  • ❌ References from 10+ years ago only
  • ❌ Personal friends (unless specified)
  • ❌ People who might give lukewarm feedback
  • ❌ Anyone you haven't contacted in advance

Reference List Format

Standard Format

PROFESSIONAL REFERENCES

Jane Smith
Senior Director of Product
TechCorp Inc.
Phone: (555) 123-4567
Email: [email protected]
Relationship: Direct supervisor for 3 years (2020-2023)

John Doe
VP of Engineering
Previous Company
Phone: (555) 234-5678
Email: [email protected]
Relationship: Cross-functional partner on 5 major projects

Information to Include

Required:

  • Full name
  • Current job title
  • Current company
  • Phone number
  • Professional email
  • Your relationship to them

Optional:

  • LinkedIn URL
  • Best time to reach
  • Preferred contact method

Read the full file on GitHub · 348 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 348 lines · 12 tokens per session scan A ef4d07942777

Subscribe to this mod's changes

reference-list-builder is a skill published in the GitHub repository Natsummerance/readMD (20 stars, last pushed 4d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 12 tokens to every session and 1,907 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 100% identical to reference-list-builder, differing in 0 lines, and is treated as a copy.

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