> ...ask alumni of your school for referrals. Just random alumni.

When candidates do this to me I am happy to refer them after I personally screen their resume and I converse with them a little (written or verbal).

I don't refer someone unless I think it's worth my company spending money evaluating them.

I dislike the pushy candidates who believe this approach is a no-effort side door.

This works and demonstrates two desirable traits: confidence or courage to overcome apprehension and a growth mindset willing to work at actively searching for work. I prefer to hear directly from new grads than recruiters any day of the week.

The other thing people fear is being one of many and being a bother. As long as you target low enough of an alum, they are almost certainly not swamped.

This is good advice. I had a first year CS student at my alma matter randomly reach out to me for general guidance on LinkedIn. Two years later we have a rich mentor/mentee relationship.

Related... Mayuko is a software engineer who has worked at Intuit, Patreon, and Netflix. She now makes YouTube videos full time, many of them focused on bootstrapping a career in tech. Her latest video is about increasing the likelihood of getting engagement when doing exactly the kind of thing the parent suggests. https://youtu.be/SJ3cXmRX7mM

One reason why this works so well is that there is often a monetary incentive on the referrer's side, in that they get paid some referral bonus if you get hired

> Get a LinkedIn premium subscription

How does this help with asking alumni of your school for referrals? Can't you do that with a regular account?

It allows you to bypass (some?) restrictions on who you can message.

Without it, I think you need at least to have a mutual connection. (Which wouldn't be that hard to achieve with fellow alumni.)