A Referral Is One Of The Best Ways To Get A New Job

When you’re applying for a job, knowing someone at the company gives you some insider knowledge. If you have a referral, you’ll increase your chances of getting the job by 40%, according to recent studies.

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We’ve covered how contacts and your professional network help in your job search. If you’re applying to a company, tap into that network and see who already works there. Contact them and ask if you can put them down as a referral on your job application.

The Quartz explains why companies are more likely to hire referred applicants:

Such applicants have been shown repeatedly in studies (pdf) to be significantly more likely to stay at a firm for longer, and to be more productive (pdf). This might be because the workers are better matches, or because they have a pre-existing mentor or monitor in the person that helped hire them. Referrals also come pre-vetted — to a certain extent — and cost less to find.

Don’t just put down a random name of someone you know. Putting down the wrong name could actually work against your application. The referrer needs to be someone who is doing well at the company.

Employers ignore almost everything on your application — except this [Quartz]