Networking Tips for Job Seekers: What the Hiring Data Shows

The networking tips that matter most for a job search are narrow ones: talk to people at the specific companies you are applying to, start with acquaintances rather than only close friends, ask for 20 minutes of advice before you ask for anything else, and turn the good conversations into referrals for named postings. The reason is in the hiring data. At employers using the recruiting system Ashby, referrals are about 1% of applications but about 18% of hires, and 40% of referred candidates reach an interview against 3% of people who apply cold. This post shows those numbers, traces the famous "85% of jobs" figure to where it came from, and gives you messages to copy and a weekly routine that fits next to your applications.

Why networking works: the numbers

Most networking advice asserts that it works. The useful question is how much, and compared with what. Employers' own records answer that. All of the sources below sell hiring software or run a hiring platform, so read them as data from their customers, not a census of the labor market.

What the gap means for one week of effort

Here is the Ashby funnel applied to a week (our arithmetic, not Ashby's):

• 30 cold applications at a 3% interview rate is about 0.9 interviews.
• 2 referrals at a 40% interview rate is about 0.8 interviews.

Push it through to offers and the gap widens. At 3% to interview and 6% from interview to offer, one offer takes about 556 inbound applications on average. At 40% and 16%, it takes about 16 referrals. That inbound figure is inflated by everyone who clicked Apply on a role they did not fit, and a person applying to roles they match does much better (our post on how many applications it takes to get a job works through realistic rates). The direction still holds: a referral is worth many applications.

Two cautions keep this honest. First, a referral is not random. People refer candidates they think will be hired, so part of the 40% is selection, not the referral itself. Second, referrals are scarce. They are about 1% of applications because each one costs a contact time and some reputation. You will make a handful of referral asks for every few dozen applications, which is why networking runs alongside applying rather than replacing it.

The 85% myth, traced

The line you will see on most networking pages is that "85% of all jobs are filled via networking." It has a real source, and the source says something narrower.

It is a LinkedIn post by recruiter Lou Adler, published on 29 February 2016, titled New Survey Reveals 85% of All Jobs are Filled Via Networking. The headline says all jobs. The body says "85% of critical jobs are filled via networking of some sort." The survey had about 3,000 self-selected respondents, mostly staff and management. That is an informal poll of one recruiter's audience about one kind of hire, not a measurement of hiring.

Compare it with the employer records above: about 18% of hires from referrals at Ashby customers, 29% at the financial services company in the New York Fed study. Those are big shares for a channel that produces 1% to 6% of applications, and they are the numbers to quote. Our post on the hidden job market traces the related "80% of jobs are never advertised" claim as well.

Who to contact first

The best evidence on whom to talk to comes from an unusual experiment. In a 2022 study in Science, researchers from LinkedIn, Harvard, Stanford and MIT used randomized changes to LinkedIn's People You May Know feature, which varied the prevalence of weak ties in the networks of over 20 million people over five years, during which 2 billion new ties and 600,000 new jobs were created. Three findings matter for a job seeker:

• Moderately weak ties did the most. Measured by mutual connections, the relationship was an inverted U: weaker ties helped, but only to a point. Someone with a few mutual connections beat both a close friend and a near stranger.
• Measured by how often you interact, the weakest ties helped most. The people you rarely talk to know about jobs your close circle does not.
• Industry changed the answer. Weak ties increased job mobility in more digital industries; strong ties did so in less digital ones.

Weak ties carry information. Strong ties carry vouching. A referral needs someone who can speak to your work, so the people you ask for a referral and the people you ask about openings are often different.

To find rows 2 and 3, open your school's page on LinkedIn and use the Alumni tool. LinkedIn's own course on using the alumni tool shows filters for where people live, where they work, what they do, what they are skilled at and what they studied. Filter by the companies on your application list, not by everyone in your field. For more on picking that list, see our job search strategy guide.

Message templates: alumni, former colleagues, recruiters

These are sample messages written for this post, not anyone's real outreach. Replace every bracket. Each one names a reason you are writing to this person, asks for something small, and makes it easy to say no.

LinkedIn connection note to an alum (under 200 characters)

LinkedIn caps notes at 200 characters and lets you personalize up to three connection requests a month unless you pay for Premium, so this one has to be short. Filled in, it runs to about 160 characters.

Hi [Name], fellow [School] grad ([year]) here, moving into [field]. Your path from [past role] to [Company] caught my eye. Would you be open to connecting?

Email to an alum asking for a chat

Subject: [School] grad with a question about [team] at [Company]

Hi [Name],

I found you through the [School] alumni network. I'm a [current role] with [X] years in [field], and I'm applying for [type of role] at a few companies, including [Company].

Would you have 20 minutes in the next two weeks to tell me how your team works and what it looks for? I've read [something specific: a talk, a post, the team's product launch] and have three or four questions ready.

If now is a bad time, no problem at all.

Thanks, [Your name] [LinkedIn URL]

Reconnecting with a former colleague

Do not open with the ask if you have not spoken in a year. Reconnect first, and make the specific question the second half.

Hi [Name],

It's been a while since [project or team you shared]. I saw you moved to [Company], congratulations. How are you finding it?

I'm looking for my next [type of role] and [Company] is near the top of my list. There's a [Role] opening on the [Team] team: [job link]. Do you know the team, and would you be up for a quick call about what it's like? If it looks like a fit after that, I'd love to ask about a referral.

[Your name]

When the answer is yes, the full referral message, with the blurb your contact pastes into the form, is in how to ask for a job referral. Ask before you apply where you can: GitLab's hiring handbook, for example, says that if a person "has already applied and their application has been reviewed and progressed," a recommendation counts as an endorsement, not a referral.

Message to a recruiter about a posting you applied to

Send this after you apply, to the recruiter named on the posting or listed for that team. About 150 characters filled in, so it also fits a connection note.

Hi [Name], I applied for the [Role] role (job [ID]) at [Company] today. I have [X] years in [the posting's core skill]. Could I send you a two-line summary?

Thank-you note after a chat (within 24 hours)

Hi [Name],

Thanks for the time today. Your point about [specific thing they said] was the most useful thing I've heard about [topic], and I'm going to [action you will take].

You mentioned [person or resource]; I'll reach out and use your name as you suggested.

[Your name]

Closing the loop a few weeks later

Hi [Name], a quick update: I [applied for / interviewed for / got] [role] at [Company], and your advice on [thing] helped. Thanks again. If I can return the favor, let me know.

The loop-closing note is the one people skip, and it is what turns a single favor into a contact who answers next time.

Coffee chats and informational interviews

A coffee chat, or informational interview, is a short conversation to learn about a role, team or company. The University of New Hampshire's career office recommends asking for a 20 to 30 minute call and sending a thank-you note within 24 hours, and adds plainly: "Informational interviews are not job interviews!"

A good 20 minutes looks like this:

1. Two minutes on you. Who you are, what you are looking for, and why this person. Keep it to three or four sentences.
2. Fifteen minutes of their answers. Bring four or five questions and let them talk.
3. Three minutes to close. Thank them, ask the one question that extends the network, and stop on time.

Questions worth asking, several adapted from UNH's list:

• "What is a typical day like in your role?"
• "What skills are most important at your company?"
• "What kind of experience would employers in this field look for in a job applicant?"
• How does hiring for this team usually work: does the recruiter screen first, or the hiring manager?
• Is the [Role] posting I saw the kind of role you would expect someone with my background to land?
• "Who else would you suggest I speak with to learn more about this field? May I use your name when I contact them?"

That last question, quoted from UNH, is the most valuable one. It turns one weak tie into two, and the second contact arrives with a name attached.

Do not ask for a job, and do not ask for a referral in the first conversation unless they offer. If the chat went well and there is a posting you fit, ask in a follow-up message a few days later.

Networking online without spamming

LinkedIn is where most of this happens, and its limits shape what works.

• Notes are scarce on a free account. Three personalized connection requests a month, 200 characters each, per LinkedIn's help page. Use them for former colleagues and the alumni you most want to reach. For the rest, find a work email or send a request without a note and write once they accept.
• One person, one message, one ask. A connection note with a referral request, a resume and a job link reads as a form letter. Ask for the conversation; the referral comes later.
• Name the posting when there is one. A message that cites a job ID gives the reader something to act on. A message that asks about "any openings" gives them homework.
• Comment before you message. A thoughtful reply under someone's post makes your name familiar before your request arrives.
• Do not paste the same text to fifty people. Recipients can tell, and LinkedIn notes that general limits on connection requests apply on top of the note cap.
• Keep a short tracker. Name, company, how you know them, date of last contact, next step. Without it, follow-ups slip and you message someone twice.

A weekly routine

This fits in about three hours a week next to your applications. The numbers are a starting point; adjust them to your field.

Five messages a week is about 20 a month. If a few of those chats turn into referrals for named postings, the Ashby arithmetic above says each one is worth a stack of cold applications. Keep applying in the same week, though: there are never enough referrals to fill a pipeline. The job search strategy guide sets out how to run both tracks together.

Where ApplyEze fits

ApplyEze does not network for you and does not replace referrals. It handles the other track, the application volume, run on your own machine. New accounts get 50 free credits, once per email address, with no card, and a credit is used only when an application is confirmed as submitted. Listed plans are Starter at $19 a month for 700 and Pro at $99 a month for 3,000. It writes a resume for each posting, plus a cover letter when the form asks, and completes applications end to end on 12 platforms, including Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby (Workday and Oracle need a connected application inbox). The resume mirrors the posting's language, and ApplyEze brings the posting's named skills and tools onto your skills line, even when your own record does not list them. There is no step to remove one before a live run, so use a dry run to see what it writes, and be ready to discuss anything on the page. All of this frees your own hours for the conversations above. One practical point: for a company where you are waiting on a referral, hold that application until the referral is in.