Referrals

Hi there,

Q: I don't know how to network efficiently to ask for a referral and get my CV through. 

I reported some tips below about referrals, hope they can be useful.

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To find a referral, I would recommend three steps:

1. Identify the best people to contact to receive a referral
2. Write them a customized email
3. Have a call and indirectly ask for a referral

As general tips:

• Don’t use LinkedIn for your communication – emails work better. You should target 30% conversion for your messages; if you are not achieving that, there is space for improvement.
• When sending emails, your goal should be to organize a call, not to ask questions – you can then use the call for the questions.
• You need to close the call with an indirect request for a referral – don’t leave that to chance. There are specific ways to phrase it.

I would recommend preparing three main things before the call:

• Your own pitch. 3-4 lines should be enough
• 3-4 questions on the personal experiences of the person. Avoid to ask questions about the company only
• A closing question for the referral. It should be an indirect request to avoid being too pushy

Before the call, I would recommend to have your CV and Cover ready – in this way, you can send them right away it if the person wants to refer you.

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If you are interested to know more about the best way to find the right people, exact email to write, questions to ask and indirect closing to land the referral, please feel free to contact me. I do a 30 min session at 50% discount to understand the right steps to get MBB referrals, directly from home – no events participation required.

This includes all the scripts needed, from the email to send to the call with the consultant.

Following the same process, I managed to get 6 invitations out of 6 applications – including all MBB - and I regularly see my mentees getting referrals with it even when they are not from a target school.

Best,

Francesco

Hey there,

Not sure what the root cause is here, which we need to figure out first.

• Is your CV not that great? (irrespective of school)
• Are you too shy?
• Do you present poorly on linkedin?
• Are you contacting the right people?
• Is there a motivational problem?
• Are you not communicating effectively?
• Do you access the right channels?

It could be either one of those, a combination, or something else. I don't know and I invite you to share a self-assessment here for use to comment. Each one of the above has some simple fixes.

Feel free to reach out if you'd like some more support!

Cheers,
Moritz

Hi there,

Get a coach to help you here.

Here are some lighter tips (I dive deeper in my coaching of course):

1. Reach out to a lot of people. I'm talking hundreds
   1. There are ways to do this effectively without wasting time
2. Send tailored messages that hook the person
   1. Again, there's ways to do this without wasting a lot of time
3. Craft a perfect message to maximize chances of response (I have seen so many terrible messages and so many great ones…all saved in a google drive folder!)
4. Get calls with people (there's ways to ask and ways to not ask)
5. Shine in the call (present yourself well, have a great conversation, demonstrate your worth)
6. Hint at a referral (again, ways to ask and not ask)

Hi,

It is definitely a tougher situation to be in if you are not from a target university. 

I'll share a couple of high level points on networking based on my own experience

• Be creative in trying to find a connection/catalyst
  • Don't just restrict yourself to alumni, it could be someone who had studied the same degree, did the same sport etc
• Leverage all avenues
  • Reach out to friends and family, ask around and see if someone has a connection that you can leverage or help get introduced to
• Prepare your elevator pitch
  • It is critical that you have a short, succinct and authentic introduction or ‘blurb’ you can share with people you are reaching out to, or get connected with
  • Consultants are busy people - so the more direct you are and the more they feel you are not trying to ‘waste their time’, the better it is
• Get feedback on your CV and experience
  • It is never a bad idea to get objective feedback on your CV and whether or not firms will view your experience as valuable, and to get feedback on how you can further improve it or the storytelling of it
• Find your motivation
  • It will get tough - I myself faced a high amount of rejections or just no-replies, when I was networking as well
  • But you have to dig deep and find your motivation for carrying through tough moments like that

In my most trying moments, I recall a memory or experience from my past that was even more difficult than what I am facing now, and that typically gives me motivation. Or I ask myself this question: “would I rather stop now, or push through and give it my all even though I may not be successful?”

All the best!

Hi there!

I'm really sorry to hear about this. Many people are struggling with the same issue. 

I actually created a guide that you can use for this which is free. It walks you through how to create a funnel of leads through LinkedIn and eventually get a referral. Hope you find it useful:

• Expert Guide: How To Get Referrals Via LinkedIn? 

Here's also how to lead the conversations with these people once you get them on a call:

• Expert Guide: How To Handle Networking Calls and Get Referrals

Hope you find these helpful and if you have follow-up questions, reach out!

Best,
Cristian

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