A referred application at most Indian companies is read by a human within days; a portal application may never be. The awkwardness of asking is the entire cost, and it's smaller than people think — referrers usually get a bonus if you're hired.
Make saying yes easy
The person referring you has to fill a form, paste a job ID, attach your resume and vouch for you. Every one of those you can do for them raises your chances.
- The exact job title and requisition ID
- Your resume as a PDF, named properly
- Two lines they can paste into the 'why are you referring this person' box
- Your notice period and location
Asking someone you know well
Hi Ankit — are you still at Razorpay? There's a Backend Engineer II opening (JR-2841) that matches what I've been doing at PayFast. Would you be up for referring me? I'll send the resume and a couple of lines you can paste in. Totally fine if you'd rather not.
Asking a stranger or a distant contact
Lower the ask. Don't open with 'will you refer me' to someone who doesn't know your work — ask for a conversation instead, and let the referral follow if it makes sense.
Hi Neha — I'm a backend engineer in Bengaluru, 5 years on payments systems, and I've been following Setu's work on account aggregators. You're on the team that built it. Would you have 15 minutes sometime this week? I'm exploring a move and would value your read on whether my background fits before I apply.
The explicit permission to decline
'Completely fine if you'd rather not' does more work than any other sentence in a referral message. It removes the social cost of saying no, which is precisely what makes people comfortable saying yes.
After the referral
- Thank them the same day
- Tell them the outcome, whatever it is — this is the part almost everyone skips
- Don't ask them to chase the recruiter on your behalf
- Refer someone yourself later; that's how the channel keeps working
Put this into practice
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