Over 60% of employees were hired through a referral.  Just about everyone who is working was referred or has been referred at some point in their careers. You’ve heard the old saying “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. Today it’s easier than ever to know someone, social media puts the power of connection at your fingertips. As my friend and Staffing Leader Tiffany Kuehl says, “You gotta network to get work!”

But even with a powerful network, your friends won’t refer you if you have a crappy resume.  And for the sake of this article, when I use the word “resume” you might as well include cover letters and LinkedIn profiles in that as well. Employers use LinkedIn to look for new talent, post job openings and COMPARE YOUR RESUME WITH YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE for consistency. That’s right, if you send a resume to employer, they will definitely look up your LinkedIn profile as well. So if your resume is outdated and your LinkedIn profile is naked, you are not going to any calls, not even referrals.

Why? Well because it looks lazy; like you are not even putting any effort in your career credentials. If you can’t take the time to use a FREE resource like LinkedIn for something as important as your career then you may not really care your work ethnic or persona.

Referring someone is a tricky thing; it’s a fact that when you refer someone to work with you, it’s a direct reflection on you. If they get the job and screw up or break the rules, the boss is coming for you. Here’s something else, at some point we have all had a friend looking for work – someone you’ve known for a while but you’ve never seen their resume. So you say “Hey, maybe I can help you out, give me your resume and I’ll pass it along to my boss.” They get happy and filled with hope – and then you get the resume and its total garbage.  What should you do? Tell them it’s a bad resume? Or just take it and throw it away hoping they never mention it again? Probably that last option.

I can’t tell you how many of my friends have told me that they couldn’t refer someone because their credentials were so poor. They don’t want the headache or embarrassment.

There are millions of people with terrible resumes and they know it, yet they are skeptical of paying for resume, cover letter and LinkedIn support because they fear being ripped off. Resume Writers get the majority of their business through referrals. We know it’s a vital part of our success, but guess what? We would not get any referrals if we didn’t create great work.

A job referral is a job referral – meaning there is no difference in me getting referrals and you needing a referral. If your friends aren’t referring you, then you may need to ask yourself why? Maybe it’s your resume, your cover letter, or your interview skills. Either way, if you are not getting calls that you think you should be getting, then you need some help; OBVIOUSLY you can’t do it on your own. Remember, you’ve got to network to get work, and part of networking is having a great resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile, which can be proudly shared!

Join the Resume Crusade! 

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