I am a university 2nd year computer science student and I did a summer job as an IT Analyst when I was 3/4 through my first year.

My summer job as an IT Analyst went great and my supervisor, manager and the Vice President of the IT section of the company thought I was a really good worker and liked me a lot. Once the summer job came to an end, they told me to stay in touch and that I should come back for another work term and the VP wrote a really good recommendation letter for me.

A few weeks later, I applied to another job which I ended up getting.

Unfortunately, when I was in first year, I did not see the importance in me (as a student) to keep in touch with my previous supervisor (especially if they liked me a lot and would give me a really good recommendation letter and requested that I should come back to the company) and I am applying for my third work term now and I find that a large portion of the jobs want to contact my first (and second) supervisor before hiring me.

I haven't been in touch with my first supervisor for over a year, ever since I left the company (they even mailed me a 'thank-you / we will miss you' letter and I forgot to email them and say thanks for the letter!). I think it would be really weird if I email them now and say 'hey, I want to work for a different company and am wondering if I can put you down as a reference' when I didn't even say thanks for the goodbye letter they mailed to my house. I think it would be even weirder if I email then now and say 'hey, thanks for that 'we will miss you letter' which you mailed me last year! can I put you down as a reference right now since I want to work for a different company?'. It also think it would be weird if I put the contact information down without notifying my manager because then, the workplace I am applying to will call the manager in the middle of the day and say 'hey, can you tell us about 'myName'' and the manager says, 'wait, who is myName?' and then the workplace says 'myName said he worked for you' and then the manager says 'ohhh, oh yea, I think I know who you are talking about. The summer student? Yea yea, him. He was good'.

With that said, knowing that if I put down the 'IT Analyst' position on my resume, then the workplace I am applying to will want to contact my first supervisor, should I or should I not put down the contact information of my first supervisor?

If I shouldn't put down the contact information, then what should I say when the place I am applying for asks me for my supervisors contact information? Will it be weird if I say 'I didn't stay in touch with them even though they liked me a lot and I can guarantee that they would have given me a good reference if you contact them'? I think it will be hard for them to believe that I do not want them to contact a supervisor who liked me a lot.

Keep in mind that the 'IT Analyst' position will boost my resume a lot since I am just a 2nd year student looking for jobs and all previous work experience related to IT will help me a lot in terms of finding a job.