Partner said to “use their name as a referral”

Hello,

Great job for having such a productive conversation with a partner! 

I'm not 100% sure I follow what you mean here, but here's how I understand it: if it's not a formal referral, ‘name-dropping’ on an application tends to involve either: 1) mentioning this partner and the conversation you had with them in your cover letter, or 2) some firms ask you to give the names of any employees you talked to directly in the application, so you could put this partner's name down there. If this is the case, then both of those things are helpful (and you should definitely do them), but don't carry as much weight as an internal referral. 

Essentially you would need to bank on recruiters to read your cover letter in detail and note the name, notice the partner's name on the application, etc., which won't always happen. This sort of name-dropping is also more of a signifier of “I was able to talk to this person”, while an internal referral is more of a signifier of them vouching for your candidacy to some degree.

If you feel comfortable doing so, you could follow-up with the partner by email, thank them for taking the time to talk to you, mention how inspired you were by the conversation, and ask whether they would be willing to provide a referral. Best of luck!

Hi there,

Q: I had a great chat with a partner at MBB who at the end mentioned to use their name as a referral on my application. Does this carry the same weight as an internal referral and if not, could it still help get an interview?

If the partner meant to use it during the online application in the specific area for referrals (some companies have a slot to add the referral name there), then yes, it will work as an internal referral. 

If the comment was to just drop the name in, say, your cover letter, then it will not work as an official referral. It might still help a bit if they read the cover but in this case I would look for someone else for an official referral.

Good luck!

Francesco

Hi there,

Nice networking!

Alas, this won't really do much. If you're including it in the Cover Letter, it can help marginally, but that's assuming they read it (McKinsey doesn't).

If you can, try to nudge the Partner to give you an official referral. Basically, play dumb. Say something like “I went to submit my application but did not see a place to put your referral. I just wanted to check if I'm missing something or if something needs to be done on your end?”

Hi there, 

I would just write to HR if I were you, telling them that this Partner said you should let HR know that he referred you. 

It's similar to an internal referral and it shouldn't have a different effect (even though it's more informal). 

Best,
Cristian

Hi there,

I agree with the overall sentiment. What you have currently is nothing more than a line item for your cover letter referencing a conversation with someone at their firm. A little better than saying “I attended your company presentation and spoke with XYZ” but not significant enough to give you a real boost. 

For a boost, you need an internal person actively referring you. Seniority and company tenure of that person do carry weight but any referral is still better than no referral because then HR will at least look at your application documents thoroughly.

Best of luck