Dear reader,

As an interviewer myself,  I get so many chat messages on LinkedIn from job seekers asking for a referral. While it is extremely difficult to reply to all of them, I do look at some of them every now and then. Unknowingly, few messages and profiles catch my attention and I dig deeper into profiles. Internet is a powerful place and a tool to use. It has changed the world forever. It has changed the way people meet, get opportunities and also make a living for themselves.

Like I said, due to many chat messages, I sometimes miss many requests. So I wanted to bring a better solution to this problem. I started the MSK Referral program to keep track of the people asking for a job referral. Nonetheless, I think it is important that you understand few key things before asking for a job referral from other interviewers, HRs, and employees on LinkedIn.

Back in those days, when I was searching for a job at one of the Fortune Top 10 companies, I wish I was aware of the mistakes that I was doing before asking for a job referral from an employee working in the company I wanted to work for.  So I decided to write a blog post on what I learned in my past experience which could help you if you are looking for a referral from somebody you know for a long time on LinkedIn.

If you are reading this, chances are you want to obtain a referral from a person you already know, or maybe you are just trying out texting the HRs of the company you are interested in. Either way, you will need to do few things before even reaching out to those people who might open up a great future for you.

#1 - Build up your portfolio first.

I literally mean, your LinkedIn profile should have crisp details and all the information needed for a viewer at first glance. I can't stress this enough - "At first glance". You need to have a cover pic that describes the kind of skills you possess or at least gives a positive impression. Your "About" section should have the details about your areas of expertise, your email ID, and demo links if you have done any projects and hosted them online. Also, describe your passion towards the work area. It helps to connect better.

Attachments play a big role too. Make sure to attach your CV in your profile's featured section and that the viewer is able to download it if needed. I'm sure you would be attaching your pdf version of the CV in your LinkedIn chat message when you tried to text that person. But why should you leave out the profile visiting HRs whom you yourself did not reach out to? 

In the experience section, give links to the products you might have worked on and clearly mention the tech stack you had worked on in that company. Clarity is everything. And the first impression is second to none.

#2 -  Git hub repositories are noticed.

Software developers sometimes ask for referrals but forget to put a link to their Github profile in the Resume. Also, your GitHub profile reflects your enthusiasm and involvement in software development. You must also update your profile on Github with your skillset, most commonly worked projects, and your passion. You may not believe this but the Interviewer ( probably the one whom you are asking for a referral ) is going to notice how much passion you have for coding. This is because they are looking for people whom they want to work with every day. And having passionate people around will add up value and help in their project deliverables and also help the team in various intuitive ways.

Now, coming to your repositories on Github, feature the ones you have worked on the most. Your code should be neatly organized in a standard folder structure and you must follow guidelines. You may not believe this but as an interviewer myself, when I get a resume from my HR, the first thing I do is check the first Github repository in the profile and see if their coding style is good and if they have added proper configuration in the project like linters and pre-commit hooks. Yes, this matters too 😊

#3 - Know your referring buddy better.

If you are randomly texting someone and attaching your CV to the chat, 9/10 times you won't get a reply because there are many people like you doing the same. Just take a step back and imagine yourself in their shoes. Would you reply to 50 messages a day? I mean, they have work to do and they are doing their best to help few people. They cannot satisfy everyone out there in the world. Especially if they have a lot of connections, they would get a lot of messages. This is why you should not only request the people who are very popular. There are many people who are not so active on LinkedIn and there are higher chances that they might reply to your message if they find it attractive.

Long story short, before asking for a referral, please get to know the person. Look at their posts and try to have a casual conversation and tell them that you like their work. By directly jumping to the referral topic, it shows that you only care for what you want and not appreciating the person who is helping people out there. I hope you know where this is going. This is human psychology. They are also humans and they have emotions and interests. They feel good when appreciated too. They are not referral web portals that just do the job of registration. You will thank me later for this tip.

#4 - Bring quantitative points & facts.

As much as your profile, your approach, and words are important, the facts that you bring along have a significant impact on the impression. I'm not asking you to say that you own a patent or something crucial like that. You won't believe how much simple things matter. For example, if you include a demo of a recent project you made, it will be noticed for sure. Not just projects, you can add the number of open-source contributions or pull requests you have raised. You can also include your stack overflow points. Many people just use stack overflow when they need something. Very few people actively reply and solve the problems on stack overflow. You will be noticed for that. 

Include the number of articles you have published in your work area. And also mention your typical turn around time when you implemented some feature in the old company and showcase the impact it caused to the company.  

Hacker rank, Leet code scores are also valuable.

#5 -  Don't apply on the company career page.

I'm sure you are confused when I say "Don't apply on the company career page" because many have told you it is the official way. 

Well, give me a minute and let me explain.

When employees refer a profile, it gets a higher priority than profiles uploaded on career page by job seekers and so your chances of getting shortlisted increases. This is the reason why you are probably asking for a referral in the first place. But I told you not to upload your CV on the career page of the company because when the employee tries to refer you, and the CV already exists in the system, many companies don't accept duplicate entries. This is a disaster because they will not be able to refer you at that point. 

There is actually a hack for this. They will need a different email ID of yours to retry once again. But honestly, they would have lost interest in referring after the failed attempt.

So please try to get a referral by showing your skills and don't hurry up and upload your profile on the company website career page. I hope this was something you may not be aware of and I wish you all the best for your next big step. 

Remember, you need to work for it and then gain some insights, build few projects and make your profile worthy to look at. You will have a higher chance of getting into that dream company of yours.

That being said,

I am doing my part of referring and like I said, I am maintaining an excel sheet that google form generates. This not only helps me to organize the profiles better but to look at all the requests without missing them. So if you have pinged me on LinkedIn and have not got a reply. Please don't mistake that I am ignoring you. Register yourself to the MSK referral program. Every Saturday I look at the excel sheet and see if there are matching openings. I have already referred many and they have got in. I also forward worthy profiles to my friends and colleagues of other companies in Bangalore too.

All the best. 

If you found this article helpful, share it with your friends.