The importance of who you know.  How people you know will help you get your next job

There’s a good chance you will get your next job through someone you know. This used to be that someone that you would hear of a job opening through a friend, or they would arrange for you to talk with people.
Networking is changing. You may be approached by someone you know, which is an exciting possibility. Companies are asking their staff to encourage friends and contacts to apply for a forthcoming vacancy within their company. But they need to know what you can do so they can recommend you.
Companies seek recommendations
Companies like Deloittes and Enterprise Rent-A-Car, now offer their employees free gifts like iPads to promote the company to their friends and this is becoming more prevalent.  For example, Ernst & Young are looking to increase the number of staff they take on for non entry placements to 50%.
At Sodexo, a food service and facilities management company that hires over 4,000 managers and executives a year, referred employees are 10 times more likely to be hired than other applicants. Think about it, particularly if this is repeated across organisations. If you aren’t known to people currently working within a company your chance of success in your job search is greatly reduced.
An article in the NY Times discussed how a recommendation by a friend/ contact can lead to being interviewed for a job that may not be advertised; the comments against this article provide many examples shared by readers of how they got jobs through this route.
Why are companies using this approach?
To reduce recruiters fees but also because people who join a company via a referral often perform better, become part of a team quicker and are less likely to leave. Employees will only refer good people as it will reflect badly on them if the new person doesn’t excel in the job.
The need to build relationships
So what do you do if your best friend is not already working with the ‘Ideal Job Company’? You need to get known, and you need to nurture your relationship with people you know.
I want to reinforce the need to involve other people in your job search and to be clear about what you want. You must be able to explain it simply and let other people know what it is that you are looking for, then you may find they can promote you. Make keeping in touch with people you know and letting friends and contacts know your strengths, your achievements and what you can do a priority, and do this before you need help. Using LinkedIn will certainly help as a quick means of letting people know what you do and what you want.
The benefits of LinkedIn
LinkedIn will also help you to make connections with people who work for the company you want to work for. Follow companies, find names of people who work there, join the same groups as them and then send a personalised connection. Belong to groups associated with the type of job and company you want so you can be found and use people you know to make an introduction.
Helps when interviewed
People you know can help get you to interview, and at interview, being referred will increase your chance of a job offer. In a new study of one large company by three economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, referred candidates had a 40% better chance of being hired than other applicants.  You are more likely to be shortlisted, more likely to be interviewed and through the whole of the process find your application is treated more favourably because of the recommendation.
Get paid for recommending others
Being known by others can help in other ways. You could get recommended for a job through a site like Job Bounties. This site allows people to get paid for recommending people they know for a job. Their research says that 41% of people have found a job through their personal network compared to 34% through a job ad, and this site builds on this.
Be proactive
Sites are now set up that allow you to link your social media accounts (FaceBook, LinkedIn) to see who you know that works in a particular company. Companies such as Career Sonar, you enter details of the job and location you want and it will let you have a list of any available jobs where people you know work. You can then contact your friend/colleague to ask them to help you find out more about the vacancy.
There are similar organisations
Jackalope Jobs also links to your FaceBook and LinkedIn accounts. I’ve found out about both via American contacts and I’m not sure how relevant it is to the UK job seekers. As I’m not seeking a job I don’t want to create an account, but I’d love to hear if this helps you.
The world is changing, and we need to adapt.
We don’t always like changes, but we need to understand and work with the way things are going. Make sure you have a network of people who know how great you are, get your message out to them so they are clear on your strengths and what you want and look to build the number of people you know who could potentially recommend you. Your next job really could be through someone you know.
You may not like this change. I can understand you may see it as nepotism. But this is not the boss giving the job to a relative, but a company wanting to decrease the cost of recruitment and increase the change of a new recruit being successful.
So what do you think? Can you see this as a positive? Do you know people who got a job this way? Are you going to make any changes?
Let’s get a discussion going.
There’s a good chance you will get your next job through someone you know. This used to be that someone that you would hear of a job opening through a friend, or they would arrange for you to talk with people.
Networking is changing. You may be approached by someone you know, which is an exciting possibility. Companies are asking their staff to encourage friends and contacts to apply for a forthcoming vacancy within their company. But they need to know what you can do so they can recommend you.
Companies seek recommendations
Companies like Deloittes and Enterprise Rent-A-Car, now offer their employees free gifts like iPads to promote the company to their friends and this is becoming more prevalent.  For example, Ernst & Young are looking to increase the number of staff they take on for non entry placements to 50%.
At Sodexo, a food service and facilities management company that hires over 4,000 managers and executives a year, referred employees are 10 times more likely to be hired than other applicants. Think about it, particularly if this is repeated across organisations. If you aren’t known to people currently working within a company your chance of success in your job search is greatly reduced.
An article in the NY Times discussed how a recommendation by a friend/ contact can lead to being interviewed for a job that may not be advertised; the comments against this article provide many examples shared by readers of how they got jobs through this route.
Why are companies using this approach?
To reduce recruiters fees but also because people who join a company via a referral often perform better, become part of a team quicker and are less likely to leave. Employees will only refer good people as it will reflect badly on them if the new person doesn’t excel in the job.
The need to build relationships
So what do you do if your best friend is not already working with the ‘Ideal Job Company’? You need to get known, and you need to nurture your relationship with people you know.
I want to reinforce the need to involve other people in your job search and to be clear about what you want. You must be able to explain it simply and let other people know what it is that you are looking for, then you may find they can promote you. Make keeping in touch with people you know and letting friends and contacts know your strengths, your achievements and what you can do a priority, and do this before you need help. Using LinkedIn will certainly help as a quick means of letting people know what you do and what you want.
The benefits of LinkedIn
LinkedIn will also help you to make connections with people who work for the company you want to work for. Follow companies, find names of people who work there, join the same groups as them and then send a personalised connection. Belong to groups associated with the type of job and company you want so you can be found and use people you know to make an introduction.
Helps when interviewed
People you know can help get you to interview, and at interview, being referred will increase your chance of a job offer. In a new study of one large company by three economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, referred candidates had a 40% better chance of being hired than other applicants.  You are more likely to be shortlisted, more likely to be interviewed and through the whole of the process find your application is treated more favourably because of the recommendation.
Get paid for recommending others
Being known by others can help in other ways. You could get recommended for a job through a site like Job Bounties. This site allows people to get paid for recommending people they know for a job. Their research says that 41% of people have found a job through their personal network compared to 34% through a job ad, and this site builds on this.
Be proactive
Sites are now set up that allow you to link your social media accounts (FaceBook, LinkedIn) to see who you know that works in a particular company. Companies such as Career Sonar, you enter details of the job and location you want and it will let you have a list of any available jobs where people you know work. You can then contact your friend/colleague to ask them to help you find out more about the vacancy.
There are similar organisations
Jackalope Jobs also links to your FaceBook and LinkedIn accounts. I’ve found out about both via American contacts and I’m not sure how relevant it is to the UK job seekers. As I’m not seeking a job I don’t want to create an account, but I’d love to hear if this helps you.
The world is changing, and we need to adapt.
We don’t always like changes, but we need to understand and work with the way things are going. Make sure you have a network of people who know how great you are, get your message out to them so they are clear on your strengths and what you want and look to build the number of people you know who could potentially recommend you. Your next job really could be through someone you know.
You may not like this change. I can understand you may see it as nepotism. But this is not the boss giving the job to a relative, but a company wanting to decrease the cost of recruitment and increase the change of a new recruit being successful.
So what do you think? Can you see this as a positive? Do you know people who got a job this way? Are you going to make any changes?
Let’s get a discussion going.

Published On: April 5th, 2013 / Categories: Job Search, Social Media /

One Comment

  1. Denise Taylor April 5, 2013 at 4:07 pm

    Hi Ade, this is just starting to happen, and not in all companies, but I wanted to let people know how the job market is beginning to change in some organisations. It reinforces the need to be using social media and having great contacts and some people are going to be at a clear advantage.
    Doing a good job and making sure others know about it, through recommendations on LinkedIn will help

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