Episode Notes

On the fifty-third entry of Tristan’s Tips, our amazing host Tristan Layfield discusses how you can find contacts to request informational interviews so you can hopefully land that referral. Remember, 80% of recruiters and hiring managers agree that referrals are the best way to find a qualified candidate – but what happens when you don’t have a connection at the company or companies that you want to work for? That’s where informational interviews can come in handy, so make sure to listen to the full episode to learn about both methods Tristan recommends when it comes to finding and reaching out to someone to request one!

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TRANSCRIPT

What’s going on, Living Corporate?! It’s Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting, and I’m back to bring you another career tip. This week let’s discuss how you can find contacts to request informational interviews so you can hopefully land that referral.

By now, you’ve heard me talk about how 80% of recruiters and hiring managers agree that referrals are the best way to find a qualified candidate, but what happens when you don’t have a connection at the company or companies that you want to work for?

That’s where informational interviews can come in handy to begin establishing those relationships and potentially land you that referral. There are two techniques I teach my clients when it comes to finding and reaching out to someone to request these interviews.
First, which is going to seem obvious, leverage LinkedIn. But I’m not talking about in the traditional sense of finding someone, adding that person, then sending them a message. Nah, that sometimes makes you come off as creepy and produces a very low reply rate. I suggest you start by looking for someone who is 1 to 2 levels above where you want to be in the company. Go to their profile and scroll all the way down to the interest section, then click see more. Click the groups tab at the top, and this will let you see what LinkedIn groups that person is a part of. If you both are a member of the same group, great! If not, request to be added to one of the groups that makes sense for you. Once your request is accepted, go to the group, click see all members, find the person, and you can send them a 1-on-1 message from there, and the best part is that you don’t have to be connected with them to do that! When you message them in this fashion, it shows the person that you are a part of the group, which communicates that you all have a shared interest, and they are more likely to reply. LinkedIn used to let you send unlimited messages this way, but they’ve recently figured out this loophole and now only allow you to send 15 messages monthly so make sure to make them count!

The second method is by reaching out to them using their work email. Now, I’m sure you’re wondering, well, how do I do that? I don’t work there, so I don’t know their email address, Tristan. I get it, but that’s where our handy dandy friend, the internet comes to the rescue. First, ensure that their direct contact info isn’t listed somewhere on their LinkedIn profile. Second, there’s a tool I like to use called hunter, which helps you find most people’s email addresses. You can find it at the website hunter.io. This site’s Email Finder tool uses a large number of signals to find the proven or most probable email address of professionals at tons of companies.

While both of these tips help you to establish more reliable connections with people, I cannot warn you enough to not go crazy with them. If you’re going to utilize them, then you need to be very thoughtful and methodical about how you reach out. You have to craft a message that convinces them to take the time out of their day to speak with you. If you want to know how to do that in one of my future tips, find me on social media and let me know!

This tip was brought to you by Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @LayfieldResume or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn.

Find out more at https://living-corporate.pinecast.co