How to Ask for A Referral on LinkedIn

Would you like to know how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn? If that is truly the case, you’re going to be benefited from this blog post.

Knowing how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn is a great way to increase your chances of getting a job through LinkedIn.

It doesn’t mean that if you will learn and understand how to ask for referral on LinkedIn, it is guaranteed that you will land a job but what will happen is, this will increase your prospects of getting a job that you desire.

If you are someone who wants to join a specific organization, knowing how to ask for referral on LinkedIn is the way to go.

In case you were unaware of this, we would like to tell you that the primary way using which most people in the world land a good job at a reputable organization is by referral method and by knowing how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn.

Recruiters are most likely to hire those people who are referred to them by the people who already work in their organization.

This is due to the fact, they already have trust in the current employees of their organization and have the belief that if they are referring someone, the referral must be possessing a good caliber.

If you have applied to an organization through someone’s referral, there is an additional 50% chance that you will soon be contacted by the recruiter of that organization.

Also, if you have been recruited by the recruiter after someone has referred you to them, there is a high chance that you have more job satisfaction and you stay in the company for a longer period of time.

In this blog post, it is our aim to inform you about how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn.

We won’t be just informing you about how to ask for referrals on LinkedIn.

We are going to inform you about other crucial things as well that are in direct relation to how to ask for a referrals on LinkedIn.

Things like Why choose LinkedIn to ask for a job referral, How to ask for a referral on LinkedIn template structure, Tips to follow once you are aware of how to ask for referral on LinkedIn, etc.

About Referral On LinkedIn

What is a Referral on LinkedIn?

Before you proceed to learn how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn, you should also know what is a referral on LinkedIn.

The meaning of a referral on LinkedIn is as simple as knowing how to ask for referrals on LinkedIn.

A referral means having a positive word of mouth of your skills and abilities transferred to the recruiter by someone who is trustworthy to the recruiter.

If we understand this through an example – if an employee working in an organization has spread good word of mouth about you and your work to the recruiter and because of that good word of mouth, if the recruiter decides to interview you or directly hire you then you have generated a referral.

What is the reason behind LinkedIn Referral Program’s existence?

LinkedIn Referral Program exists because they are aware of how difficult the process of recruiting really is.

A recruiter has to read through 100s and 1000s of resumes to shortlist a bunch of candidates for a job.

Because recruiting is such a hectic process, it takes a time period of months to find and hire a person to work in an organization.

This is especially true if the person who is being recruited is coming for a “specialist-level” job role.

To solve this problem to some extent, referral programs exist in companies.

Through referral programs, companies give the responsibility of recruiting new employees to the employees of the company.

And when the employees give the referrals of their known ones for a specific job role in an organization, those referred people get interviewed.

And if the interview process gets successful and the organization chooses to hire those referred people, the employees (who referred them) get compensated with a good amount.

However, the amount is not specific here.

It depends on how big or small the organization is and for what job role have they given the referral.

Typically, companies ask their employees to provide their referrals with the following information.

* Contact number of the referral

* Resume or CV of the referral

* The name of the position for which they are referring the candidates

* Information on how they know the referred candidates

* Feedback on the candidate (How good and exceptional he is)

Before you understand how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn, you should know these things

Because learning about how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn could change your career game to some major extent, you should not take it lightly. You should be understanding these things beforehand, prior to learning about how to ask for referrals on LinkedIn.

1) First of all, know the fact that by understanding how to ask for referrals on LinkedIn, the benefits that you are going to receive are that you are going to be trusted more, your resume won’t be lost in the stack of resume that a recruiter keeps with himself, and most importantly, you will be called for the interview faster.

But the benefits things stop here.

If you are thinking that by getting referred to a recruiter, you will have a 100% chance of getting hired for the job role, then we’ll have to tell you the truth, that is not the case.

A referral will only help you score the job interview effectively, but getting recruited for the job will depend on whether you will be able to crack the interview or not, how good you are at the work you do, and many other things.

2) Whenever you get referred for a job, and they ask you for your resume, don’t send an outdated resume because that will make it hard for you to get recruited for the job.

Send your updated resume and don’t forget to mention in it all the projects that you have done recently.

Make sure these projects are somewhat related to the company where you have gotten the call from.

3) Make certain to tailor your resume specifically to the company or organization you are applying to.

Don’t make it a very generic one.

If you will have a tailored resume sent to the recruiter, he might be impressed by your specificity.

And that might unlock your chance to get the job.

4) Other than your resume, what also you need to do is update your LinkedIn profile.

Update your LinkedIn profile with every possible detail you can.

Add your experience, skills, abilities, past projects, profile summary, etc.

Why choose LinkedIn to ask for a job referral?

Before being informed about how to ask for a job referral on LinkedIn, you must be aware of why choose LinkedIn to ask for a job referral.

Here are some points mentioning why LinkedIn is the best choice to ask for a job referral.

1) LinkedIn is a professional networking platform that is designed to help its users in their professional endeavors.

So, knowing how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn and choosing LinkedIn to ask for a job referral will help you a lot because by utilizing LinkedIn, you’ll be perceived as a serious and responsible working professional.

2) When you learn how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn and choose LinkedIn to ask for a job referral, you can send specific, dedicated, and customized messages that would be tailored to the individual to who you are sending the message.

Of course, you can send a customized message to every individual.

What this will help in?

This will help you in explaining your situation best, showing your interest in the company you are applying to, and letting the person know specifically why you are a good fit for the job role and how you can contribute to the growth of the company with your skills and abilities.

3) Many of the jobs you’ll see listed on LinkedIn, all have an easy-apply option.

This means you don’t need to put in any extra effort to fill out the job application just like several other job-finding portals.

So, when you have learned how to ask for referrals on LinkedIn, and are applying for a new job, if that job application will be combined with a referral, then you will have a greater chance to score the job interview and land the job.

How to find people to ask for a referral?

So, before you get informed about how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn, you need to know how to find people to ask for a referral.

And to let you know, there are two ways to do that.

The first way will come to use if you are looking for just a job, or you don’t have any specific company in mind to apply to, you are just aiming to get a job at whichever place you get it.

The second way will come to use if you have a specific company in mind where you want to apply to.

So, let’s explore both ways.

If you are looking for just any job

If you belong to this category of people, you will have to take out the contact information of people who could help you in getting a job.

These people could be your friends, your acquaintances, your colleagues, your known ones, your family friends, your old schoolmates, your old collegemates, your old workmates, etc.

And then you will have to consolidate all the contact information data you gather into one place.

You could use MS Excel or Google Sheets to gather the data.

There is a fine chance that you will be connected on LinkedIn with all the above-mentioned categories of people.

So this makes it easier for you to take out their contact information.

If you are looking for a job in a specific company

If you belong to this category of people, the best thing for you to do is to connect with those people on LinkedIn who are linked to the company in some way or the other, in the company where you want to apply.

They could be the company’s staff members or employees, vendors, clients, etc.

There is one thing that you need to keep in mind, and that is when you decide to send connection requests to people who are employees of the organization, you need to get into details and see what their job role is and for how long they are serving in the company.

If you’ll send a connection request to someone, who has just 1 month back joined your desired company in the role of a junior graphic designer, then surely that connection won’t be of any help to you.

Because a reputable company’s recruiters surely won’t consider an employment referral from someone who joined the company just 1 month back and is just starting out his graphic design career.

You will have to remember to send connection requests to those people who have spent years working in the company, 2 years to say the least.

It would be great if you’ll connect directly with someone from the hiring team.

One crucial tip that we would like to give you, in this case, is that, connect with those who are level up than you in the work that you do.

For example, if you are an Accounting Assistant, connect with the one who is the VP of Accounting in the company.

What can you do once you know how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn?

Here are two things that you can do once you know how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn.

* Once you know how to ask for referrals on LinkedIn, you can easily ask for an employment referral from people who you already know, who are already there in your connections list.

* Once you know how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn, you can see jobs through the LinkedIn jobs search filter ‘In Your Network’.

Steps to follow to know how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn

Here are the steps to follow to know how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn:

1) Find out and develop a list of those companies and organizations where you seek to work.

2) Type the list of these companies in a Microsoft Excel File or a Google Sheet.

3) Take advantage of LinkedIn to see the employees working in your preferred companies and organizations.

4) Send these employees a connection request. (Important: While sending the employees the connection request, don’t forget to add a personal note where you introduce yourself)

Here are a few examples of the personal introductory note that you can add:

a) Hey there! Due to my skills and abilities, I can enhance the value of your personal connections. Would you like to give me this opportunity?

b) Hey! I believe that connecting over here would be great since we both work in the same field. What do you think?

c) Hey (XYZ)! I am currently aiming to build strong and powerful connections on LinkedIn. My first impression of your LinkedIn profile is that it is really powerful and strong. Are you interested in connecting with me over here?

5) Wait for your connection request to be accepted.

6) Once your connection request gets accepted, then send a message to your new connection asking for a referral.

7) While sending the message, kindly do not write a plain and boring message like ‘Hey! Can you please give me a job referral’? Because doing so won’t be helpful to you at all. In the message, mention your skills, qualifications, abilities, and expertise. Also, mention why it would be the best choice for him to connect with you on LinkedIn. It would be extremely great if you add your resume as well because by looking through your resume, the person on the other side could easily examine things about you.

8) Make it your target to get at least 1 employment referral daily. If you are able to get so, good. But if your connection is not giving that to you, don’t force him to give that. Because then he might report your profile as spam.

How to ask for referral on LinkedIn template structure

In the next section, you will actually get the how to ask for referral on LinkedIn template that you can just copy and paste to send to your connections to get a referral from them.

But the thing that you need to be aware of here is that not every time templates are going to work and sometimes you will have to create a template of your own depending upon your own unique and specific circumstances.

Referral template structures are developed based on a basic structure that includes five points.

And in this section, we are actually going to introduce the 5 points to you on how to ask for referral on LinkedIn template structure.

These points will give you an idea of how to develop a structure – How to ask for referral on LinkedIn template structure

1) First and foremost, introduce yourself by greeting your connection in a very well manner.

2) Second, include a positive wish in your message or give a genuine compliment to the connection.

For example: If you are including a positive wish, then write “Greetings of the day” and if you are giving a genuine compliment then write “As someone who has followed your career for some time, I must say you have made an exception.”

3) Let your connection know that you are searching for a job rigorously and are interested in applying for the “XYZ” position in the company where he works. Let him know that you are interested in giving the interview for the job role.

4) Make the job referral request. Be certain to cautiously choose the tone of your message as this could either build up or destroy your formal relationship with your connection. If you and your connection are familiar with each other for a long while, you can choose an informal tone. But if you just have met on LinkedIn, you will have to strictly use a formal tone.

5) At the end of the message, mention that you have attached your resume there and he can check through it.

How to ask for referral on LinkedIn template?

Now here comes the actual how to ask for referral on LinkedIn template structure that you could use as it is given for you own needs.

1) Greetings XYZ,

I’ve come across the Software Development role at ABC Company and I’m keen on applying. Would you consider sharing my resume with the hiring team to convey my interest? I’m also available to discuss this further at your convenience. I’ve attached my resume for your reference. I look forward to your response.

2) Hello XYZ,

Having reviewed your recent accomplishments with your company, I’m enthusiastic about the opportunity to contribute to the firm’s achievements myself. Enclosed is my resume for your perusal. I’m confident that my skills align well with your team’s needs. If you find potential in my application, I’d greatly appreciate any assistance you can provide in connecting me with the appropriate hiring personnel.

3) Hi XYZ,

I’ve been informed by Mr. Jobin that you have insights into ABC Company’s hiring process. With this in mind, I’m sharing my resume to showcase my qualifications and experience. If my background deems me a suitable candidate for the role, I would be immensely grateful for any introduction you could facilitate.

4) Hey XYZ,

I trust everything is going well. (Include a personal reference if applicable)

I’ve already submitted my application and resume to the company. I’m curious if you have any interaction with the hiring manager. If you do, your introduction could significantly boost my chances of securing the interview needed for the position.

5) Hi XYZ,

I was a part of the October 2021 cohort at Premium Learning Academy. The Backend Developer role at ABC Company has caught my attention, prompting my interest in applying. Could you kindly consider passing on my resume to the hiring team to demonstrate my enthusiasm for the role? I’m open for a discussion at your convenience. Looking forward to your response.

6) Greetings XYZ,

I hope life finds you in good spirits.

I recently submitted my application for the sales manager position at ABC Company. I’m curious whether you have any connections to the hiring manager, [Her Name], and if a referral from you might be possible. Attached is my resume, showcasing my five years of experience in this field and my history of achieving notable outcomes.

Please let me know if you’re comfortable assisting.

Can you connect with strangers if you want to know how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn?

As we said earlier, you need to be well aware of who are conversing with, when asking for a referral request.

In many cases, the strangers with whom we connect have greater connections than the people who are known to us.

So, it is really a good idea if you connect with strangers once you have learned how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn to ask for a referral.

Connect with strangers but don’t expect them to accept your referral request just right after they have accepted your referral request.

They need to first assess your skills, abilities, experience, your extraordinary achievements, etc before they can make up their mind to refer you to their hiring manager.

There are many big companies out there that have referral programs in place.

The concept of referral programs is when you get referred to a recruiter through the company employee and you are really competent in your skills and abilities because of which the recruiter ends up hiring you, the employee who referred you to the recruiter gets a good amount of money as an incentive.

You would have a good chance of getting the referral and getting hired if you would find out such companies that offer good money as an incentive to their employees when they refer good people to their recruiter.

If you get in touch with an employee of one such company as we have mentioned here, if you are good at your work enough, he would be very enthusiastic to refer you to his recruiter.

The reasons for his enthusiasm are: a) Getting the incentive in the form of money.

b) Making a good impression before the recruiter’s and the company executives’ eyes because he has given an asset to the company.

Tips to follow once you are aware of how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn

Here are some tips you should follow once you are aware of how to ask for referral on LinkedIn.

1) Address who you are conversing with by their first name.

2) Greet them or give a genuine compliment to them.

3) Introduce yourself to the recipient. Also let him know about your skills, experience, expertise, and also what makes you unique.

4) Let the recipient know what extraordinary you have accomplished in your previous job/s so that they could be thoughtful about referring you to their recruiter.

5) If the person you are interacting with is not paying attention to you, instead of just texting him constantly, move to another person in your connections list and start interacting with him. The person who is not paying attention to you is not worth your attention.

6) Don’t ask for the job opportunity directly otherwise you might be perceived as someone who is needy. Briefly explain your capabilities and then ask for a referral. If you do this, the recipient won’t feel pressurized.

7) It is always better to show than to tell. If you have a portfolio present of your past projects, don’t think twice before sending that to the recipient. After seeing your portfolio, the recipient would be able to assess your skillsets in a much better way.

8) Once you get connected with someone on LinkedIn, kindly refrain from asking him to refer you to his recruiter just right after that or even 2-3 days after he has accepted your connection request. Focus on building your connection strong with the person first and then request the referral. To build your connection strong, you need to time-to-time interact with the connection by commenting on his posts and articles, sending him happy birthday and happy work anniversary text messages, etc. This way, your chances of getting the referral would get increased.

9) If the recipient does not respond to your referral request, send him a follow-up message after some time. This does not mean that you should keep on texting him rigorously. You should not do that because that will irritate the recipient. If you sense that the recipient is ignoring you intentionally then you should bother texting him at all. The purpose of sending a follow-up text message is to remind the recipient of your referral request in case he has forgotten about it.

10) You need to keep the recipient updated on everything you are getting through his referral. If you have received the interview call from the recruiter through the referral, send the first text message to the recipient. Thank him that because of him you got the interview. And even if you fail to crack the interview, then also keep him updated. Again say thanks to him that he got him through the interview process and without him, you wouldn’t be able to give an interview at such a prestigious organization. You don’t want to break the connection with him if you aren’t able to get the job. You never know when he will be of help to you in the future.

Conclusion

We hope that after reading this post, you are now fully aware of how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn.

Not only just you have learned how to ask for referrals on LinkedIn, but you also got informed about several other things including what is a referral on LinkedIn, what is the reason behind LinkedIn Referral Program’s existence, what things you should know before you understand how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn, why choose LinkedIn to ask for a job referral, how to find people to ask for a referral, how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn template structure, the tips to follow once you are aware of how to ask for referral on LinkedIn, etc.

Knowing how to ask for referrals on LinkedIn is superbly important because by asking for a referral on LinkedIn, your chances of scoring an interview with the company of your choice get increased and even your likelihood to get the job gets enhanced.

Congratulations on learning completely about how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn.

Frequently Asked Questions About How To Ask For A Referral On LinkedIn

1) How do you politely ask for a referral?

Answer – If you want to politely ask for a referral on LinkedIn, use this template that we have provided you with in our blog post above.

“Hi XYZ,

I’ve been informed by Mr. Jobin that you have insights into ABC Company’s hiring process. With this in mind, I’m sharing my resume to showcase my qualifications and experience. If my background deems me a suitable candidate for the role, I would be immensely grateful for any introduction you could facilitate.”

2) Can I ask a stranger for a referral on LinkedIn?

Answer – Yes, you can ask a stranger for a referral on LinkedIn. As a matter of fact, studies have shown that strangers have stronger connections than those people who are already in your contact list and strangers can provide you with better opportunities than the people who you already know. So, if you have learned about how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn, start connecting with strangers.

3) How do I ask a stranger for a referral on LinkedIn template?

Answer – Here is the template that you can choose to follow:

“Hi XYZ,

I’ve been informed by Mr. Jobin that you have insights into ABC Company’s hiring process. With this in mind, I’m sharing my resume to showcase my qualifications and experience. If my background deems me a suitable candidate for the role, I would be immensely grateful for any introduction you could facilitate.”

4) When should I ask for a referral?

Answer – The right time to implement your learning of how to ask for referrals on LinkedIn and ask for a referral is when you have successfully established a formal connection with the recipient.

5) Is it unprofessional to ask for a referral?

Answer – It is not at all unprofessional to ask for a referral on LinkedIn or learning how to ask for a referral on LinkedIn. There are several reputable companies out there who not at all rely on job portals to hire new employees, they completely rely on referrals to hire new people. If you learn how to ask for referral on LinkedIn and then actually ask for a referral on LinkedIn, you might find a new job in a quarter of the time compared to the other job-finding methods.