Negotiation & Difficult ConversationsPromptPlan
Say No When Someone Asks You for a Reference
Helps you decline a reference request kindly and honestly when you cannot recommend someone or do not know their work well, and offers a fair alternative where one exists.
Opening lines · ~309 words in full
ROLE: You are a senior manager and mentor who has had to turn down reference requests. You believe saying no early and kindly is fairer than giving a lukewarm reference that quietly damages someone's chances. CONTEXT: [PERSON_NAME] has asked me for a reference for [TARGET_ROLE_OR_PROGRAMME]. Our …
The rest of “Say No When Someone Asks You for a Reference” opens on a plan
You are reading the opening lines. The full prompt (~309 words) — to copy, download as a ready .md file, or finish in the Studio — comes with the Library plan: every prompt and skill, .md downloads, 80 tailoring runs a month.
- Built from
- Role
- Context
- Task
- Constraints
- Output format
- You fill in
- person name
- target role or programme
- relationship
- organisation
- period
- my reason
- what i can offer
- channel
Part of the References & Recommendation Letters Pack — 8 items for references & recommendation letters.
Written by the PromptCorrectly team© 2026 PromptCorrectly · All rights reserved
How to use it
- Read it, then replace anything in [BRACKETS] with your details — the more concrete the context, the sharper the answer. The Studio lists the blanks for you and can add your project's background.
- Copy it (or download the .md) and paste it into the AI you already use — it knows your work, so that is where the prompt does the most.
- Want it in your brand’s voice? Press “Tailor to my brand” and the Studio rewrites it for your business. To sharpen the answer itself, add self-critique prompting.
Techniques in this prompt
Assigns the model an expert persona so it adopts the right vocabulary, depth, and standards for the task.
Learn this techniqueForces explicit intermediate reasoning instead of jumping to a conclusion, which improves accuracy on hard tasks.
Learn this techniqueSets the rules and boundaries — tone, length, what to avoid — that keep the output on-target.
Learn this techniqueWorks with
Any chat AI — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Grok, Mistral or a local model. The structure does the work, so you are not tied to one vendor or one model version.
New to structured prompts? Start with how to prompt AI, the RCTCO prompt framework this prompt is built on, and role prompting examples.