Gnet Reason To Write

---
name: gnet-reason-to-write
description: Picks one reason to write per person that is useful to them, why it fits, and what not to ask yet. Use for "run gnet-reason-to-write", "every message I start is an ask", "what do I say to them", "reason to message someone", "how to reach out without asking for a job", "I don't want to sound needy", "reconnect with an old contact", "why would they reply to me", part of the Claude Graduate Networking Guide Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# Reason to Write

## When To Use
You know who to contact, but every message you start is an ask: a job, a referral, a look at your CV. Run this before you write anything, to answer one question per person: what reason to write would be useful to them, and what should wait?

## When Not To Use
If you have not chosen who to contact yet, run Contact Shortlist first. If you already have a reason and a blank screen, go straight to Message Points; if the person is a stranger you have no way to message yet, Connection Request Note fits better.

## Inputs
- Your shortlist of about 10 people: name, role, employer, how you know them, and the closeness tier in your own words
- Anything real you share with each one: past help, a talk you heard, a course, a placement, a recent public post or piece of work, with its source
- Your Networking Brief, if you have one (the help you need, what you can offer back)
If you have none of this, I start from three names and how you know each one, and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
Reasons to write that help the other person, a principle described here in our own words, combined with the advice that runs through UK careers guidance and the TARGETjobs LinkedIn guide: ask for advice, not a job. The judgment is matching the reason to the relationship, so a former manager can take a direct ask for advice while an alumnus you have never met gets something lighter. The failure it prevents: the "congratulations on the new role" message to a stranger that turns into a job ask in line two, which both of you can see coming.

## Workflow
1. Ask at most three questions: which help from your brief matters most this month, whether anyone on the list has helped you before, and whether you have anything useful to share (an article, an event, a contact, notes from a lecture).
2. For each person, pick one reason from six: thank (for past help), share (something useful, no ask), congratulate (something recent, with a source), catch up (a dormant tie, no ask), ask for advice, or ask for a 15-minute conversation.
3. Test the reason against reality. It must rest on a real link or a sourced fact. A congratulation with no source, or a "shared interest" you guessed at, is rejected as a pretext and replaced or marked "no reason yet".
4. Match the weight of the reason to the tier. Close and warm ties can take a direct ask for advice or 15 minutes. Distant or never-met contacts get a thank, a share or a congratulation, or I suggest an introduction route through someone closer.
5. Fill the "not yet" column for every person: job, referral, CV review and internship asks wait. Never a job in the first message.
6. Show the table and let you approve, swap or drop each reason. Keep the run to about 10 people; the rest wait for the next run.

## Output Format
```markdown
# Reasons to Write
Run of [date] · [number] people · brief used: [yes or no]
## Reasons
| Person | How you know them | Reason (one of six) | Why it fits, with source | Not yet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [contact] | [link, in your words] | [thank / share / congratulate / catch up / advice / 15 minutes] | [the real link or sourced fact] | [job, referral, CV] |
## No reason yet
- [contact]: [what is missing, e.g. no shared link and nothing sourced] -> [find one, or ask someone closer to introduce you]
## Decision
[You approve, swap or drop each reason by [date], then pick the first person to write to.]
```

## Done When
- Every person has exactly one reason from the six, or sits under "No reason yet"
- Every reason traces to a real link or a fact with a source
- Every row has a "not yet" entry and no first message asks for a job or referral
- The run holds about 10 people, chosen by you

## Quality Bar
- One reason per person; two reasons in one message reads as a pretext for the second
- Reasons are about the relationship, never a judgement of who "deserves" contact
- Congratulations only for something public and recent, with its source
- Contact details stay out of the table and out of Claude memory
- Claude suggests reasons that help them; you pick one and nothing is invented as a pretext.

## Next
Run gnet-message-points (Message Points) to get points for the first message.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).