Five Tips for Making the Most of Referrals During Job Search

The cornerstone of the job search process is connecting with people and having curious conversations, a term I prefer to “networking meetings” or “informational interviews.” These are the talks during which you learn about businesses, roles, and career journeys. They are also an opportunity to build rapport. Such conversations often organically lead to jobs.

While these conversations often arise from your direct network, they also come from referrals within your personal circle. Friends, family members, former co-workers, and classmates may be willing to make introductions, dramatically expanding your reach during a job search. In doing so, they are extending themselves and putting their reputations and valuable connections on the line.

At the end of a curious conversation, you may want to wrap up with “I would love to learn more about X. Is there someone else you would suggest I speak with?”

How can you make the most of these referral opportunities?

1.       Determine how your referrer likes to operate. Some people will take a “use my name” approach and ask you to reach out to someone directly. Some will prefer to make the introduction themselves, either by speaking to their contact or emailing them. They may want to check with their contact before introducing you to protect their contact’s time. The point is to understand what your contact’s most comfortable with and go with it. 

2.       Make life easier for your contact – it’s to your benefit. If your contact wants to make the introduction, you should offer to draft something to serve as background. You should write a few sentences about why you’d like to speak to your contact’s contact since you’ll be able to frame yourself as you’d like to be seen as opposed to depending on your friend to capture who you are and your interests. This also reduces the burden on your friend, increasing the odds it will happen. 

3.       Preserve and enhance your referrer’s reputation and their impression of you. The number one rule of referrals – follow through. Imagine that someone makes an intro for you, and you don’t follow through. This will make the referrer less likely to put themselves out for you (or anyone else) in the future. 

4.       Be appreciative and keep your referrer in the loop. When someone refers you to someone else, make sure you immediately thank your referrer. Say the referral puts you forth for a position at their company. That’s a perfect opportunity for you to keep the introducer in the loop and thank them once again. You may find that in coming back to the original introducer, that person has another idea that emerges when they get that email. Periodic check-ins keep you top of mind with the introducer. 

5.       Recognize that persistence is required in following through on an introduction. It often takes a few tries to connect with someone to whom you’ve been introduced. You should act swiftly on the initial introduction. You might want to quickly take the introducer out of the email chain between you and the contact, so they’re not burdened with a barrage of your scheduling emails. All you need is a quick line like this “Jane – thanks so much for the introduction. I am moving you to Bcc to spare your inbox.” If you don’t get a response from the referral, you will need to try a few more times. Many people don’t respond on the first attempt but will do so with a gentle reminder or two. Of course, you don’t want to be a pest. That would damage your referrer’s reputation. But know that persistence is needed.

Referrals are the lifeblood of your job search. You may be surprised that one referral leads to another, and so on. That’s the network effect of exponentially growing your relationships, possibilities, and opportunities. Make the most of it!

I offer individualized career coaching and advising (remote and in-person) along with text, email, and phone support to help job seekers succeed. I've hired more than 100 people and interviewed over 500 candidates. I've worked at large global companies like Morgan Stanley and a company that is now part of Bank of America Private Bank and founded/worked at six startups. I welcome you to contact me and join my mailing list.