LinkedIn: Using LinkedIn for Referrals and Direct Outreach

LinkedIn is built for referrals. While the tool itself makes the process easier, you still need to put in some effort in advance to make the most of it.

• • • BE SPECIFIC
      You’ve put in a lot of time and effort to identify and craft your personal brand, and find companies that might be a good fit for you. Keep those targets, and your message, in mind. Don’t call your Uncle and say, “I’m looking for a job. Do you know of anything?” Almost no one can effectively assist you from that vantage point, unless they themselves are hiring or they just heard about a job ten minutes ago. Beyond that, the request is so vague as to be overwhelming. It also goes against all the effort you have already put in to the process. You don’t want a job doing “anything”. You want a job doing a specific function, for a specific industry, in a specific place. Preferably for one of the specific companies you already identified. Incorporate that information into your communication with the people to whom you are speaking. Don’t ask your Uncle “Do you know of anything?” instead; ask, “I’m looking for an entry‐level editing position in the publishing industry in New York City. I’m happy to start anywhere in that industry but my top three companies are Random House, Harper Collins, and Doubleday. Do you happen to know anyone I can speak to at those places or somewhere similar?” Now your Uncle has something specific to work with to begin thinking through all his contacts to begin to help you.
    • DO THE WORK FOR THEM
      Being specific to the point of the ideal companies is great, and certainly a big step forward from “I’ll do anything”. However, the easier you can make it on the people you are asking to help you the better your results will be. LinkedIn is perhaps the premier tool for this in the professional world right now. Check out our full guide on how to use it, but if you can use it to figure out exactly whom you need to speak with, it makes asking for an introduction from your connection even easier. Instead of having to say, as we saw in the last example, “I want to work for Random House; do you know anyone?” You can instead say, “Uncle Joe, I saw on LinkedIn that you are connected to Bob Smith at Random House. Do you know him well enough to introduce me? He doesn’t work in the exact department where I want to work, but I’d love to talk with him about what it is like to work there and see if he might be able to introduce me to some other people in the editing area.”
    • GIVE IT TIME
      Repeat this process over and over with anyone you know reasonably well and then be patient. Since you are going through your friend you need to give them time to respond to your request, and even more time for their friend to respond to them. Following up too quickly with your friend (which then forces them to do the same) can become annoying quickly. Every time you ask for an introduction, give both parties at least a week (two weeks total wait for you) to reply. If you haven’t heard back from your friend or the referral by that time, follow up with your friend.

How do you do find this information?

Once you have a network of at least 50 connections on LinkedIn, go to the search bar on the homepage and type in the name of a company where you would like to work. This will feed back to you the results of where your target company overlaps your network. You will see a list of names of people connected with that organization and, somehow, connected to you. If they are 2nd or 3rd degree connections, you won’t even recognize their names in many cases. Click on their name to see their profile and how you are connected to them (on the right hand side of the page, then scroll down).

If they are 2nd degree connections, you will see a name of one (or sometimes more) of your friends. You can contact your friend and ask them to introduce you. Since you are directly connected to your friend, it is generally better to email or call them directly (not using LinkedIn). Not everyone checks their LinkedIn messages every day or has their LinkedIn messages sent to their personal email, so taking the initial contact outside the LinkedIn system can speed things up.

Ideally, you can use this referral process to speak with people in your target company before positions become publicly available and develop a relationship with them that puts you “top of mind” for upcoming opportunities.

However, if you see a current opportunity posted online, apply for it. After you apply, use LinkedIn to try to find a connection at the company that you can follow up with and let them know that you recently applied. This kind of follow up not only starts a relationship but will also hopefully get your connection at the company to reach out to the hiring manager and get you a closer look. Some job postings get thousands of applicants and having a real person suggest your name can help you get pulled out of the electronic “pile”.

USING LINKEDIN FOR DIRECT OUTREACH

While referrals into your extended network are the main reason LinkedIn is so valuable, it also gives you the resources to engage in direct outreach to certain people using the Groups feature.

*Search Alumni and Your Groups

*Look at the QU alumni using LinkedIn (click on “Education”, then “Find Alumni”). Sort the list and find alumni who work in your target industry or who majored in the same thing you did. Check out their career paths. This is a great way to open up some ideas about different possibilities if you aren’t sure of a path. It is also a great way to identify some target companies to add to your list of potential employers.

*If you find an alumnus who is also in a group with you, liked the CAS Group, you can find them in that group and reach out to them directly within the group. Go to the group, click on members, search for the person by last name and then click on “Send Message” to contact them. Repeat this process with any other group of which you are a member, especially if it is strongly related to your target industry.

*If you are reaching out to a contact at a target company that you found through a LinkedIn group you should add even more of an element of advice-seeking to the request. What would the initial contact look like? Something like this:

“I found your information through the QU College of Arts & Sciences group on LinkedIn. I’m graduating from QU in May with a degree in Political Science and I’m very interested in XYZ Corp. I’m especially drawn to your programs regarding growing youth participation in national elections. I know you are very busy but would it be possible to set up a time for a quick 10-minute phone call? I’d love to get your opinion on what it is like to work there and what hiring managers there look for in candidates. My LinkedIn profile is up to date but I was hoping you might also be able to provide some advice on how to customize it more for XYZ. Please let me know a time that might work for you and I look forward to the chance to speak with you briefly”.

While fellow group members (especially alumni) will generally be willing to talk with you, they also don’t know you personally. People, in general, won’t recommend you to a friend or boss to be considered for a job until they know you a little and can trust you. After all, to refer you is to endorse you personally and put their reputation on the line for you. This is why referrals are so powerful.

If you start, instead, by asking for some help and advice as someone looking to get into the industry you can begin to establish a bond that may eventually lead to a referral.