I have been reaching out to alumni of my school, and made some good connections; however, an associate, a senior associate, and a principal have all offered me referrals. How much more help is one vs. three? I obviously want to get the job; I also don't want to make two of them upset without a bonus. What is the best course of action?
Hi there,
one official referral is enough. If you have more supporters, they can additionally highlight your name to HR once your official referral has been submitted.
In general though:
A referral is just a door opener such that the recruiting team will look through your application more thoroughly. Depending on the seniority, tenure and advocacy of the person referring you, you have a better chance of getting a first round interview. The more senior (manager level and above) the person referring you is, the better. The longer the tenure of that person with the firm is, the better.
The reason is that such voices carry more weight than referrals coming from super junior or brand new people. They typically know the HR folks better and have been involved in recruiting activities for a while so it is usually assumed that they have a good grasp of what types of candidates with which sets of qualifications the firm needs. But any referral is better than no referral.
Ideally, you get a referral from someone from the same office (or same country) you are applying to. But again, a referral from someone within the same firm but different country organization is still better than no referral.
A direct rejection after the CV screening stage can still happen - even with a referral. In that case the HR team usually provides some feedback to the person having given the referral. So you should follow up with them to better understand the rationale in case that happens. On the flipside, you can still get an interview invite when you just apply online without a referral - the probability is just lower on average.
And as always, factors such as economic conditions and headcount/budget planning of the individual firm also matter significantly in these decisions - but they are not within your control.
Best
More always helps for you as a candidate. I wouldn’t worry about who gets the referral bonus.
Dear candidate,
that is great. Use all 3 as referees, it is a great sign. For example the main referral could be from the Partner you mentioned.
best regards,
Charlotte
Hi there,
The way this works is that one “main” referee will start an internal process to initiate the application via referral. In this case, I would generally go with highest seniority, assuming they're likely to provide a glowing recommendation.
The other two referees can act as an additional boost. I would ask them to kindly write to the corresponding HR contact to support your application (once it has been filed). The main referee will have the name of the HR person.
As for who gets the bonus - don't worry about it! People don't actually do this for the money in my experience. Hence, they should support your application either way!
Hope this helps a bit. Best of luck!
You can't have multiple referrals.
One is already enough.
Pick whichever comes from the most senior person or the person who actually knows you the best.
And that's it. Then move on to other important areas of the recruitment process.
Best of luck!
Cristian
Hey there,
Great work!
I'd try to get the Principal to make the official referral, and the other two to send informal emails to HR pushing your application.
Cheers and good luck!
Florian
Hi there,
I agree with Florian here. Get the Principal to submit the official referral.
Once he/she has (and only once that's come through), ask the other 2 to help push your resume (and/or add their referrals if their system allows)
Hi there,
Referrals help, they make sure your CV will be checked, but all candidates are treated equally, even if you have a referral but your CV doesn't fit, you won't get far. Having said that, I would recommend focusing the energy on preparing the winning CV and cover letter for the interview.
I wish you all the best,
Lucie
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Hello!
There is not an exact science about this, but there is no reason not to use of three. The key thing is that your CV is looked into by HR, so it doesn´t harm to get all three -the opposite-.
Hope it helps!
Cheers,
Clara
If you can, make the senior most person the main referee and others can back you up. Dont worry about bonus..thats not what it is about.
Hi there,
Honestly, increasing the number of referrals has very diminishing returns. One is enough.
I'd always go with the most senior referee, as the more senior, the more the referral will realistically weigh. Would not over-think this.
Cheers, Andi
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