I did not get a single call from a recruiter when I applied directly on the portal. All my calls are a direct product of a referral except one.
Get Linkedin Premium. Its worth it.
A lot of referrals are from connections I made at random places at random times. So its always a good thing to build your professional network even if you are not hunting for a job.
Different ways I got my foot through the door
- I wrote a great cover letter describing how I perfectly match all their requirements and applied through the portal
- I reached out to the head of data science of a company who follows me on twitter and he expedited the process by sending my resume to the recruiter.
- I reached out to the head of data science who is my connection on Linkedin telling her about the talk I attended of her and that I was on the job market and asked her to connect me with a recruiter.
- I wrote to all data scientists who were in the company I was interested in through LinkedIn search and wrote to every one of them asking if I would be a good fit and if they would refer me.
- People would be more than happy to refer as there is usually an incentive like a referral bonus.
- I used the LinkedIn feature of “members in this company who are in your network” to ask them if they can refer me.
- I used the Linkedin feature of “members in this company who worked in the same company as you” to connect with them ask them if they can refer me.
- I used the Linkedin feature of “members in this company who went to your school” to ask them if they can refer me. This works because there is a common ground between you and the person.
- I asked my friend if they know someone who works for a company I am interested in and connected with them and asked them to refer me.
The reason I wrote the above is to illustrate that there are so many ways to get referrals if you try hard enough.
Best way to reach me is via Twitter or LinkedIn DM’s
