Some etiquette questions on the idea of references and follow ups in interviewing:

Rebecca e.

July 24,2023 at 5:49PM UTC

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Some etiquette questions on the idea of references and follow ups in interviewing:

1.) Is it ok to use a mutual connection on LinkedIn to send a note of reference to someone that I'm interviewing with? Or could that come across as creepy that I researched mutual connections and leveraged them?

2.) Is it ok to request to connect with people that I interview with or should I wait only until after I have the job. I notice that most of the time I don't have email addresses of the people I'm interviewing with, so I pass a "Thank You" follow up through the HR contact to get back to the hiring manager or panel people. Is that the right way to do things today?

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Sarah BordersJuly 25,2023 at 12:52PM UTC
1) Yes, absolutely! As long as it's not meant to be a formal reference, having a mutual connection on LinkedIn put in a good word for you is totally expected and not creepy at all. In fact, LinkedIn makes it almost impossible for you not to notice mutual connections.
2) This can be tricky, depending on the circumstances. At an in-person interview, asking for business cards at the end of the interview is a no-brainer. For virtual interviews, first try noting the invite. You may be able to see the email address of the interviewer (or interviewers) there.
If not, you can try this: Immediately after the interview, email the HR rep, thank them, and tell them how great you thought the interview went. Let them know that you'd like to express your gratitude for their time and for making the connection, and you would like to have their email address(es) so that you can send them a thank-you email.
Give them half a day to respond, tops; you don't want to send a thank-you email outside that immediate 24-hour window. If you don't hear back from the HR rep (or even while you're waiting to hear back) you can use a tool like this: https://cultivatedculture.com/mailscoop/ to look up the email address(es). It doesn't always work, but sometimes it does.
If all of those approaches fail, you can write thank-you letter(s) like you normally would any business correspondence, and then send the letter(s) as an attachment(s) to an email to the HR rep.
Good luck to you!
AnonymousJuly 27,2023 at 5:01PM UTC
1- it depends on the depth of the relationship, if you really don't know the person it is not cool.
2- again, it depends. if you think you will get a positive response then yes do that, as an alternative use the page on the companies website with their press releases usually the email there is the same email pattern as all others. If the company is less than 100 people it is usually first name@ only.