Claude Graduate Networking Guide: 30 Claude Skills

What these skills are

A graduate's networking season, as installable Claude skills.

This is Claude for the part of a first job search that is not an application form: working out what you are asking people for, finding the people you already know, learning enough about them to write something useful, and being ready for the conversation when it happens.

The skills follow the season in the order the work happens, in seven stages, warm people first, and each stage hands a named artifact to the next. Your brief hands over the target roles, the employer list and your pitch. Mapping hands over your connections list, the network map, the closeness tiers and a shortlist of about 10 people you chose. Research hands over the alumni plan and sourced notes on each person and employer. Writing hands over a reason to write and the points for your first message, your connection note, your speculative email and your nudge. Coffee chats hand over the prep sheet, the questions, the rehearsal, the debrief and the thank-you. Fairs and events hand over the plan, the prep and the 48-hour follow-up. Introductions, referrals and your log hand over the helper brief, the forwardable blurb, the referral ask, the close-the-loop note — and the log picks your next run of about 10.

The red line: Claude helps you see who you already know and get ready for every conversation. You choose every person, write every word and send every message yourself.

Nothing is scraped, automated, sent for you or invented about you or anyone else. Research comes from public sources with a source for every fact, unknowns stay unknown, and a thin profile is never padded. For messages, Claude gives you points rather than text, and the grammar check fixes grammar and spelling only, showing every change, so what you send is still yours.

Nobody is scored: the tiers describe how well you know someone, never their worth, and fit is about roles and employers against your brief. Contact details stay out of Claude memory, are never passed to a helper, and the log reminds you to delete it when your search ends.

Each skill is one method or one artifact: the inputs it needs, where it breaks, a fixed output template, a finish line and the next skill to run. Where a skill fits a Claude surface — a Project to keep your brief and notes together, Claude Docs for the longer documents, a Google Sheet for the log — it says so, and beta features are marked beta.

Mechanically, each skill is one folder with a SKILL.md file. The 30 are grouped into the seven stages, and each one gives full value on its own: run one, run a stage, or work the season through in the order it arrives.

Download all 30 skills. One zip: ready-to-install skill zips, readable SKILL.md files, and the sources behind every method. Free, no signup. Download the zip · Browse on GitHub

The 30 skills you get

The set follows a networking season, in seven stages: your brief, mapping who you already know, research from public sources, writing to people, coffee chats, careers fairs and events — then introductions, referrals and the log that picks your next run.

1 · Your brief

1. Networking Brief

Use when: You want to network but cannot say what for, or who could help

Output: Target roles, the help you need, what you can offer back, what you will not ask for yet

2. Target Employer List

Use when: Your list is five famous names and nothing else

Output: 10 to 20 employers against the brief, routes and dates, a sourced reason each, smaller employers, the ones you drop

3. Elevator Pitch

Use when: Someone says “tell me about yourself” and you freeze

Output: A 30-second introduction in your words, a 10-second version, one question to hand over

2 · Map who you already know

4. LinkedIn Data Export Reader

Use when: You want to start from your real connections, however few

Output: Download steps, your Connections file as a clean list, message counts per person, gaps noted

5. Network Map

Use when: You think you do not know anyone useful

Output: People from real life added by hand, grouped in circles, how each could help, who you forgot

6. Closeness Tiers

Use when: Your list mixes best friends and strangers you accepted once

Output: Each person tagged in your own words, a first guess you correct, dormant ties flagged

7. Contact Shortlist

Use when: You have a map and do not know who to contact first

Output: Fit first, closeness second, a cap per employer, about 10 per run, chosen by you

3 · Research from public sources

8. Alumni Search Plan

Use when: Nobody you know works where you want to go

Output: Where to look, what to search for, up to 10 names you add by hand, what to ask

9. Person Research Notes

Use when: You are about to write to someone and know only their job title

Output: Career path, recent work, shared links, a source per fact, unknowns stated, one question only they could answer

10. Employer Research Brief

Use when: You need to sound informed at a fair, on a call or in an email

Output: What they do, dated news with sources, graduate routes and deadlines, values, three questions a website cannot answer

4 · Write to people

11. Reason to Write

Use when: Every message you start is an ask

Output: One reason per person that helps them, why it fits, what not to ask yet

12. Message Points

Use when: You have a reason to write and a blank screen

Output: 2 or 3 points for your first message, length and ask checked; you write it

13. Connection Request Note

Use when: The default request feels like spam

Output: Points for a short personal note, a check against the default request and any job ask

14. Speculative Application Email

Use when: You want to work somewhere that is not advertising

Output: Named recipient check, points for each part, follow-up date

15. Grammar Check

Use when: You wrote it yourself and want it clean and still yours

Output: Grammar and spelling fixed only, every change highlighted, flags for a job ask, length, unsourced facts

16. Follow-Up Nudge

Use when: You sent a message and heard nothing

Output: When to nudge, points for one short nudge, when to stop and log it closed

5 · Coffee chats and informational interviews

17. Coffee Chat Prep Sheet

Use when: Someone said yes to a chat and you have two days

Output: One page: who they are, your pitch, your goal, five question slots, what to offer, how to end on time

18. Informational Interview Questions

Use when: You do not know what to ask beyond “what is it like”

Output: Questions matched to their stage, none answerable from the website, a closing question on who else to talk to

19. Practice Conversation

Use when: You are nervous about your first informational interview

Output: Claude plays the contact so you rehearse opening, questions and close, then notes what to change

20. Chat Debrief

Use when: The call just ended and the details are fading

Output: What you learned, advice to act on, names suggested, promises with dates, one log line

21. Thank-You Note

Use when: Someone gave you their time and you want them to remember you well

Output: Points for a thank-you that names one piece of advice and what you will do with it

6 · Careers fairs and events

22. Careers Fair Plan

Use when: The fair is next week and you were going to wander round

Output: Priority and warm-up stands, two questions per employer, your pitch, what to bring, timing, virtual set-up

23. Employer Event Prep

Use when: You booked an employer presentation and want more than free pizza

Output: Who is speaking, three questions, one person to meet, how you will introduce yourself and leave

24. Event Notes and 48-Hour Follow-Up

Use when: You came home with a stack of names and no plan

Output: Notes right after each conversation, then one follow-up per person within 48 hours

7 · Introductions, referrals and your log

25. Helper Brief

Use when: Someone says “let me know how I can help”

Output: One page a friend, lecturer or mentor reads to open their own network; they choose and write

26. Introduction Request

Use when: A contact mentioned someone you would love to talk to

Output: Points for asking one contact for one introduction, an easy no, double opt-in

27. Forwardable Blurb

Use when: Someone asked you to “send me something I can forward”

Output: Three or four sentences the introducer can forward unchanged

28. Referral Ask

Use when: You talked to someone at an employer with an open role

Output: A readiness check first, then points for a referral ask with an easy no

29. Close the Loop Note

Use when: The person who helped has heard nothing since

Output: Points for telling the person who helped what happened, a thank-you, something to share back

30. Networking Log

Use when: You cannot remember who you messaged, who replied and what you promised

Output: A light private log, a weekly review that picks the next run of about 10, archive and delete notes

Where to start, and how the skills chain

Start with the brief. Everything downstream reads it: the shortlist checks fit against it, the research looks for what matters to it, and the reason to write comes out of it. After that there is no compulsory sequence — bring the thing that is in front of you. The fair is next week? Start at Careers fairs and events. Someone said yes to a call? Start at Coffee chats. You sent a message and heard nothing? Run the Follow-Up Nudge. Every skill lists the inputs it needs, so it tells you when the stage before it is the one that is actually missing.

They chain. gnet-networking-brief names what you are asking for, and gnet-target-employer-list and gnet-elevator-pitch fill in where and how you introduce yourself. gnet-linkedin-data-export and gnet-network-map put the people you already know on one page, gnet-closeness-tiers sorts them in your own words and gnet-contact-shortlist picks the run of about 10; gnet-alumni-search-plan finds names where you know nobody. gnet-person-research and gnet-employer-research do the reading, gnet-reason-to-write finds the one thing that is useful to the other person, and gnet-message-points, gnet-connection-request-note and gnet-speculative-approach give you the points for what you write; gnet-grammar-check keeps it yours and gnet-follow-up-nudge handles the silence. When someone says yes, gnet-coffee-chat-prep, gnet-informational-interview-questions and gnet-practice-conversation get you ready, then gnet-chat-debrief and gnet-thank-you-note close it properly. gnet-careers-fair-plan, gnet-event-prep and gnet-event-follow-up do the same for a room full of employers. gnet-helper-brief, gnet-intro-request, gnet-forwardable-blurb and gnet-referral-ask open other people's networks, gnet-close-the-loop tells them how it went, and gnet-networking-log picks your next run.

The sources behind each method are in resources/evidence-and-sources.md, inside the pack.

Setup guide

1. Download the pack. One zip: an install folder with 30 ready-to-upload skill zips, a skills folder with the same 30 skills as readable SKILL.md files, and resources/evidence-and-sources.md, which names the source behind every method and where it stops.
2. Install your skills. In Claude Code, add the marketplace and install grad-networking-pack, and all 30 load at once. In Claude, turn on code execution in Settings, then Capabilities, then go to Customize, then Skills and upload one zip per skill from the install folder. Prefer working from files? Add the SKILL.md files to your Project knowledge instead; it works, just less cleanly. Keep contact details out of Claude memory.
3. Start with the brief, then one run of about 10. Run the Networking Brief with your CV, so every later skill knows what you are asking people for. Then map who you already know, shortlist about 10 people you pick yourself, and work that run through research, a reason to write and your own message. Each skill lists the inputs it needs and names the next skill to run, so one run turns into the chain on its own.

Where to start

The quality bar

Every skill in the pack holds the same standard:

• One method, applied properly: each skill uses the real steps of its method — the fair plan, the informational interview, the speculative approach, the double opt-in introduction, the LinkedIn data download — not a generic gather, analyse, recommend
• Points, not text: for every message, Claude gives points drawn from your notes and your sourced research. You write the message; the grammar check fixes grammar only and shows every change
• A source for every fact: research on people and employers comes from public sources, each fact with its source. Unknowns stay unknown, and a thin profile is never padded
• It tells you where it breaks: every skill lists the inputs it needs, says when not to use it, and names the next skill to run
• Nobody is scored: tiers describe how well you know someone, never their worth. Fit is about roles and employers against your brief, and you pick every name, in small runs of about 10
• Private by default: nothing is fetched from LinkedIn, contact details stay out of Claude memory and are never passed to helpers, and the log keeps only what you need. Data protection questions end with “check with a qualified adviser”
• The red line: Claude helps you see who you already know and get ready for every conversation; you choose every person, write every word and send every message yourself, and nothing is scraped, automated, sent for you or invented about you or anyone else

Who made this

Polar Bear is a people ops consultancy for human-size teams (20 to 200 people). 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. This pack is the free, self-serve version of how we work.

This pack is for the person doing the search. If you run a careers service, a graduate programme or an early-career team and want your people working this way — AI carrying the overhead so people do the part only people can do — that's what we build with clients.

Meet Pauline. Want your early-career people working this way? Bring the stage you are stuck on and we will pick the skills for it. Book a 30-minute call · Pauline on LinkedIn

Install in Claude Code

Two lines, and every skill in the pack loads at once.

/plugin marketplace add polar-bear-org/claude-skills
/plugin install grad-networking-pack@polar-bear-skills

Using Claude on the web instead? Download the zip and upload each skill from its install folder under Customize → Skills.