Lets say during the post-interview period while you are awaiting a reply from your potential employer (a rather large firm), you realize you know someone personally who knows an employee at the firm you interviewed at.
Do you think it would be un-professional to try and connect to this employee through your personal contact - not with the intent of influencing the decision of the interviewing team(if that is possible), but so it becomes a sort of a reference for them?
Would it affect the decision of the interviewers if they find out that you are trying to connect to people and think you are trying to aid your case through personal connections?
As long as you are professional about it it should be ok. With larger firms, it's often of little influence unless your contact is higher up, but having someone who knows your personality through previous personal contact can help them decide if you're a good match (conversely poor past contact can hurt you). I'd say most of my peers from school either had a faculty contact someone or knew someone on the inside that helped them get their positions. Being proactive gives the hiring committee see that you are truly interested in the firm as well (the contact could give you further insight and as long as you are asking questions on work environments, etc, the effect ought to be positive).
It’s a coin toss. Your friend can be someone that your bosses may not like or someone that doesn’t carry any weight in the company. On the other hand, your bosses can be like ‘we need more people like them here’ so let’s test you out. It’s a tricky one since it should have come up during the interview. But since it didn’t, then it leads me to believe that you friend doesn’t really stand up like a sore thumb in the company and is just there to blend in. If you approach your friend, they can talk to the interviewer(s), which may be a better solution rather than sending a follow up and saying that you know such and such in the company.
Well, the employee is not someone I know directly - but instead someone I am going to get introduced to, via my personal contact. The employee thus does not really know me and the way I work/my personality. Hence the issue of it maybe seeming to be the unprofessional thing to do. Thank you for your advice though.
@3tk :
Thank you for your advice too. I guess it is important to seem non-overbearing after being introduced, but at the same time, seeming proactive about wanting to work there.
cw (nice handle by the way): influence away. look, the potential for it to backfire (as pointed out) is there, but if your friend was on the outs that bad with the principal you interviewed with, it's unlikely they'd be there that long.
'weight' in the company doesn't matter - getting a first hand recommendation does. just having them drop by the door and mention that, hey, they heard you had interviewed there, is going to open up a discussion about it. as long as they don't oversell you, the risk to it backfiring is way, way less than the potential for it to help push you over the top.
Dec 27, 11 2:50 pm ·
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Post-Interview Networking
Lets say during the post-interview period while you are awaiting a reply from your potential employer (a rather large firm), you realize you know someone personally who knows an employee at the firm you interviewed at.
Do you think it would be un-professional to try and connect to this employee through your personal contact - not with the intent of influencing the decision of the interviewing team(if that is possible), but so it becomes a sort of a reference for them?
Would it affect the decision of the interviewers if they find out that you are trying to connect to people and think you are trying to aid your case through personal connections?
As long as you are professional about it it should be ok. With larger firms, it's often of little influence unless your contact is higher up, but having someone who knows your personality through previous personal contact can help them decide if you're a good match (conversely poor past contact can hurt you). I'd say most of my peers from school either had a faculty contact someone or knew someone on the inside that helped them get their positions. Being proactive gives the hiring committee see that you are truly interested in the firm as well (the contact could give you further insight and as long as you are asking questions on work environments, etc, the effect ought to be positive).
It’s a coin toss. Your friend can be someone that your bosses may not like or someone that doesn’t carry any weight in the company. On the other hand, your bosses can be like ‘we need more people like them here’ so let’s test you out. It’s a tricky one since it should have come up during the interview. But since it didn’t, then it leads me to believe that you friend doesn’t really stand up like a sore thumb in the company and is just there to blend in. If you approach your friend, they can talk to the interviewer(s), which may be a better solution rather than sending a follow up and saying that you know such and such in the company.
@tuna :
Well, the employee is not someone I know directly - but instead someone I am going to get introduced to, via my personal contact. The employee thus does not really know me and the way I work/my personality. Hence the issue of it maybe seeming to be the unprofessional thing to do. Thank you for your advice though.
@3tk :
Thank you for your advice too. I guess it is important to seem non-overbearing after being introduced, but at the same time, seeming proactive about wanting to work there.
cw (nice handle by the way): influence away. look, the potential for it to backfire (as pointed out) is there, but if your friend was on the outs that bad with the principal you interviewed with, it's unlikely they'd be there that long.
'weight' in the company doesn't matter - getting a first hand recommendation does. just having them drop by the door and mention that, hey, they heard you had interviewed there, is going to open up a discussion about it. as long as they don't oversell you, the risk to it backfiring is way, way less than the potential for it to help push you over the top.
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