If you’re reaching out to someone over Linkedin or Email to ask for a Job referral, the chances of getting a response are a lot higher if you follow some very basic etiquettes.
More importantly, if you don’t follow them, you’re almost guaranteed to get dismissed by everyone and worse, you might come across as a little rude.
So here are my rules:
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If you’re messaging me, chances are you don’t know me personally. Introduce yourself and provide a little background. Just 1 line is enough. This way, you’re no longer a stranger to me!
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Please don’t start a chat with “Hi, how are you?”. Get straight to the point. The first message you send me should declare your intention of asking for a referral. This is not rude. This is a time-saver.
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Don’t ask me whether there are any openings in my company. This tells me you haven’t done any research and just want to be spoon-fed.
Just go to the careers Page of the company, look for the best role and share its link with me.
If you couldn’t find any, then ask me about openings and let me know that you couldn’t find any on the portal. I’d be HAPPY to follow up with HR because I already admire you for taking initiative. -
Please don’t follow up with a “??”.
I am not obligated to respond to you and after seeing the laziest follow up message in the history of mankind, I don’t even feel like you’re willing to work for your goals. So you’re not a good candidate to refer. -
Address the person by their name. I already know you’re sending this referral request out to 10 people, but please don’t make it obvious. You don’t have to personalise your message for me, just adding my name already makes the message warm & personal.
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Be friendly. Be humble. The other person doesn’t owe you anything.
Here, steal my template:
“
Hi Raghav, hope you’re doing great!
I was wondering if you’d be open to refer me for a role at .
Here’s the link of the job: …
A little bit about me: I’m a career DevOps engineer with 6+ years of experience. I have mostly worked at young, fast-paced startups and am looking for bigger challenges now
Happy to share more details if you need.
Looking forward to your response
Cheers!
“
”Hey Raghav, just wanted to follow up on this. Let me know if there’s any update. Thanks”
Believe me, I will go the extra mile to help someone as long as I see humility and not an entitled attitude.
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