Get referred instead of applying cold
A referral puts your name in front of the hiring manager instead of at the bottom of a pile. The hard part is knowing who in your network can actually refer you, and who’d be comfortable doing it.
Try it on your network
- “Who can refer me into a design role at Figma?”
- “Who do I know at Series B fintechs in Berlin?”
- “Which of my connections recently joined Stripe?”
- Ask for the company or role you want.
- Get people ranked by how likely they are to refer you, each with a reason.
- Ask the top match for a referral, or for an intro to the hiring manager.
Twelve target companies, five warm paths
Sam is a product designer with a shortlist of 12 companies and about 900 LinkedIn connections, most of them from two previous jobs.
- Sam asks “Which of these companies do I know someone at?” and pastes the list. Sniff finds a 1st-degree connection at 2 of them and a 2nd-degree path into 3 more.
- At Figma, the top match is Cora, a Staff Designer Sam worked with for two years. Sam sends her the exact job link, a resume and one line on fit, and asks whether she’d be comfortable submitting a referral.
- At Linear there’s no direct connection, but Ana (1st) knows the design manager. Sam asks Ana for a short intro instead of messaging the manager cold.
- The 7 companies with no path still get applications, each one tailored to the team.
Result: Sam applies to the five companies with a warm path first, with someone inside vouching for each application.
People, companies and numbers in this example are illustrative.
Do referrals actually help you get hired?
Yes. In a New York Fed study of one U.S. company, referred candidates were 6% of applicants but 21% of the people interviewed and 29% of hires. A referral also gets your application read by someone who knows the team.
Can I ask a 2nd-degree connection for a referral?
Ask the mutual connection for an introduction first. Someone who has never worked with you can still refer you, but an intro from a person they trust makes them far more comfortable doing it.
What should I send when I ask for a referral?
The exact job link, your resume, one line on why you fit, and whether you want a formal referral or just advice. Make it easy to say no, especially for people you don’t know well.
Is the free plan enough for a job search?
For most people, yes. Free includes network search with a daily allowance, call prep and Who to tag. Pro adds 5× more searches, alerts and lead list uploads.
Your network already did the work. Time to use it.
Connect LinkedIn and get your first ranked list of warm paths in under a minute.
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