Can A Referral Help or Hurt?

Job searching can be exhausting. Even if the job lands in your lap. Just the idea of still having to still cross all T’s and dot all I’s. This can still be hard.

When someone refers you to a position, it’s not like you can just show up and say I’m here, such and such told me to come see you, and you begin working. YOU still have to do things accordingly.

This happened to me once. Someone called me, said they had an opportunity they think I’d be interested in and provided the referral information. I emailed, got a response and thus the conversation began.

I still had to make sure my resume was great, my cover letter was written appropriately and had the interview, but what the referral did for me was move my application to the right people.

This got the interviewee’s attention because, I was referred by another colleague. The thing about referrals is this, THEY ARE GREAT! You get your foot in the door. You can sort of let your hair down. But, there’s a down side to referrals too.

You want the referral to be from someone who you know is a great asset to the company. In my case, this person was. But, what if they are not. This could really hurt your chances of getting an interview.

How do you know if someone is not a great asset? If you know them well enough personally for them to know enough about you, you would know if you want a referral from them.

You have to be very careful who you request a referral from. This could be detrimental to your job hunting success, just like it could be helpful.

There are always opportunities for networking. Church, nail salon, hair salon, golf course, tennis court, Starbucks, I think you get the picture. There are always people who know other people. And getting a referral from them could a good thing or it could be bad.

Sometimes, the person referring you may think they helped you, but instead it was harmful. I got a referral from someone one once and this happened. I followed through with the connection. This person referred me to a department for the interview.

(Side note, this is for any interview, referral or not, if you walk into an interview and they tell you that day and that exact time of your interview they are changing it to another time, like an hour later, LEAVE!)

This is what happened. You know how you can tell someone has an attitude? Well, my interviewee had an attitude. I don’t know if someone pissed in her Cheerios that morning, or she was doing the interview because her boss told her to and she didn’t want to, but it was bad.

Now that I think about it, the only reason I didn’t just leave was because of the person who initially referred me to the opportunity. I had respect for them. But I really should have left. I knew this wasn’t going to go well at all. And, it didn’t.

Referrals are how 80% of people get their job, Roundone: Power Of Job Referrals. This is a great thing when it works for everyone. I would still not turn down an opportunity for further review if I was referred by someone.

However, there’s one thing that I haven’t seen discussed about referrals is this. When you are offered the job, and you take it. Do an excellent job. Remember, the person referred you has a reputation to uphold as well.

Don’t make them regret they even knew you existed. Do good work, be respectful and more opportunities may open for you.

Genola Johnson MY WHY: To help passionate people craft profitable professions with the foundations of their life’s purpose. She lives with her husband and two super model daughters in Atlanta. You can find her on GEBJohnson.com and her podcast The GEBJohnson Podcast. Follow her on Twitter@gebjohnson.com or IG gebjohnson