5 Effective Ways to Get a LinkedIn Job Referral

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.

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. So I decided to write this blog post on what I learned from my past experience.

#1 - Build up your portfolio first

Your LinkedIn profile should have crisp details and all the information needed for a viewer 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.

#2 - GitHub repositories are noticed

Software developers sometimes ask for referrals but forget to put a link to their GitHub profile in the Resume. Your GitHub profile reflects your enthusiasm and involvement in software development.

#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. They have work to do and they are doing their best to help few people.

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.

#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. Include a demo of a recent project you made, the number of open-source contributions, your Stack Overflow points, or the number of articles you have published.

Hacker Rank, LeetCode scores are also valuable.

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

When employees refer a profile, it gets a higher priority than profiles uploaded on career page by job seekers. But when the employee tries to refer you, and the CV already exists in the system, many companies don't accept duplicate entries.

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.