Ask HN: People involved in hiring: are hires via referrals more frequent?

Re:Ask HN: People involved in hiring: are hires via referral... by smt88 on Tuesday May 02, 2017 @07:02PM (#14251480)

I understand the situation you're in. People always say that if the first person you talk to is in HR, you're already screwed. Or another version: if you just submit a resume through an online platform, you're screwed.

I haven't done it myself, but I've seen friends break free of this. The best, most difficult, most time-consuming way is, of course, to meet lots of people. You never know who has a connection where. Opportunities come from surprising places.

A much quicker hack is to send messages on LinkedIn. Find the person who would be your boss at the company, tell them how much you like the company/product, and ask them if you can buy them lunch and learn more about their team.

In some cities/cultures, like NYC, this almost never works. People are really busy. In other places, I've seen success rates as high as 10%. Of these, around 25% seem to result in offers (assuming the person is qualified for the job). That's not bad!

In general, it's (unfortunately) going to take a lot of footwork and rejection.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: People involved in hiring: are hires via referral... by toexitthedonut on Tuesday May 02, 2017 @08:01PM (#14251890)

>The best, most difficult, most time-consuming way is, of course, to meet lots of people.

It really is true that networking is a high cost (in time) but high payoff approach. That is also why, when time is of the essence, networking is not a realistic option.

The longer you go without a job, the faster you want to get hired. But networking, you can't rush that. I know at least that much.

That's mostly why I posted this question- to at least get some rough idea of how much of my competition is entering "cold". I've talked to people on LinkedIn, where I'm from (Chicago) I talk to people in the immediate area. They don't answer back much, they probably have busy lives, but I wear my job search on my sleeve.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: People involved in hiring: are hires via referral... by smt88 on Tuesday May 02, 2017 @08:20PM (#14252009)

Can you search in other areas? Places like Nashville, Raleigh, Atlanta, Austin, and even Canada tend to have more open, laid-back business cultures than NYC, Chicago, and the Bay. I've found that in the "B" cities, you can often get time even from executives of fairly large companies. (The pay-to-cost-of-living ratios tend to be higher, too!)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: People involved in hiring: are hires via referral... by toexitthedonut on Friday May 05, 2017 @08:27PM (#14277882)

I'm bullish to Austin. Also into the Denver/Boulder, CO area. Of course, paid relocation needs to exist but those that do tend to be the better companies already.

[ Parent | on HN ]