If you’re tired of filling out job applications and getting no response, and you’ve been thinking you should change your strategy… Well, I’ll be fair: You got a point.
No, of course the ATS didn’t automatically reject your resume. That’s more myth and folklore than reality. So, “bypassing the ATS” and that nonsense should not be in your plans. But, well, if you want to stand out, one slight strategy change might be to start relying on networking or on referrals.
Referrals (at least the genuine ones) are very persuasive. According to a Wall Street Journal article, applicants with referrals had a 50% chance of advancing past an initial resume review, compared with 12% odds for other external candidates. Also, Anna, a recruiter from Big Tech, told me that ~80% of hires are sourced directly by her team. If you compound those two stats, it’s evident that being referred works better than just applying through a portal.
And why do referrals carry so much weight? Simple. They come with a built-in trust factor. When someone within a company vouches for you, it signals to hiring managers that you're a credible candidate worth considering.
But, yes, you already knew all that, or suspected it. Maybe you didn’t know it was so influential, and now you do.
It’s just that a referral is not the only way to set a foot in a company. And there’s no “apply via the ATS vs. get referred” dichotomy as in the “Light side vs. the Dark side of the force.” Like I teased already, there’s actually a third, separate strategy which I’ll develop here, and it involves networking.
Because, you can also network with someone at the company you’d love to work in, and ask that person for advice on how the company hires, what was a standout in their resume when they got hired, and what the hiring cycles look like. That person who you networked won’t necessarily refer you. But, considering the referral is almost impossible, you don’t need that referral to stand out from every other candidate.
This article will focus on how to network with people so that they can help you get a job. And for that, I’ll tell you what has worked with me when looking for new clients in my entrepreneurial career. What has made a difference for me has been the following:
“If you don’t know someone at your target company, you can look for someone who has something in common with you, connect with them, and ask them for all kinds of help — not just a referral”
There’s a tremendous wealth in networks. I’m a recruiter and entrepreneur, and I got 20% of my clients by using this strategy (although my move was a bit more daring — I’ll elaborate on that). Read on.
So, how do referrals actually work?
Look, there’s a clear lesson to be learned from this article:
If someone can refer you, use it. But, of course, you knew that.
And most times, you don’t have a friend, a former boss, or a university study pal at Apple in Cupertino, and you still need the job. This article is for you. Still, let’s talk about referrals because I can give testimony about them as a recruiter.
When someone refers you, they’re usually submitting your name and resume internally, through a company portal or directly to a recruiter. In some cases, they’ll also write a short endorsement. This internal handoff automatically improves your visibility. Instead of being just another applicant in the queue, you become “the candidate Alex from Engineering told me about.”
And companies love this. Referrals might lead to better hires, meaning people who onboard faster and stay longer. That’s why many companies actively reward employees for referring new talent. The incentives can range from gift cards to several thousand dollars in bonus cash (I know someone who got a big reward from Intel just for recommending a candidate!)
A referral is effortless if your “referrer” is a friend, a former manager, or someone you got good affinity with.
People only refer other people they can vouch for (mostly)
In my career, I was able to score referrals from people I had never met. But that’s the exception. Most software engineers and HR managers mention that they’ll only refer people they can trust their name on. This is logical. No-one wants to refer an anonymous SE from wherever only to then realize that person was a fraud, a freeloader, or actually a junior developer in disguise. There’s skin in the game in a referral.
Many colleagues in the recruiting space confirm the following: Referrals are valuable as long as they’re from someone the referrer worked with. Giovanni spends most of his time hiring, but he concurrently mentioned he typically doesn’t recommend or refer someone to a company unless he knows them well or has worked with them directly. And he’s an experienced voice.
So, what I’ll focus on is on how to network successfully. Remember, you’ll be networking with people you’ve never met.
I’ll use LinkedIn as a starting point for this guide, so you can read my articles about getting your LinkedIn ready, up, and running →
