Career | How to Ask for Referrals Non-awkwardly?
I often joke that asking for referral is a lot like initiating a sex conversation with your new partner.
You need a consent, but you don’t want to sound pushy. Are you two close enough? Maybe you should wait. But what if the other person is willing? Then it’s a shame to pass this on. You are torn with back-and-forth. You know what I am talking about.
It feels awkward to ask for referral from people you aren’t close to and vulnerable for fear of rejection. I know this struggle too well because when I was looking for Product Manager jobs, I literally had only one PM in my entire network and very few contacts in my target companies, so I had to build up my network on the fly. It wasn’t easy nor comfortable, but incredibly rewarding. I am glad I went through it and have some interesting insights to help others.
Note: I was a new grad candidate when looking for full-time jobs in big tech companies, so my experience may not be the same as those of experienced candidates, but general principles should still be relevant.
Understanding Referral
Before we talk about how, let’s take a step back to think about what and why.
