Networking And Referrals

Networking & Referrals

Turn a target company into a warm path in. Referrals are consistently one of the highest-converting sources of hires, which is why this skill warms the path before you apply. So this is the highest-leverage move in the whole search. Treat "just apply through the portal" as the last resort, not the first step.

When to use

• The user has a role they want at a specific company and hasn't applied yet (the best case, since getting warm before you apply beats the portal)
• "Who do I know there?", "find me a referral", "who's the hiring manager", "help me reach out"
• A role scored well in job-fit-scoring (A/B priority) and deserves a real push, not a portal submission
• After applying, when the app is sitting in a black hole and needs a human to surface it

Inputs

• Reads: workspace/profile/profile.md (positioning, proof points), workspace/profile/target-companies.md, the application record workspace/pipeline/applications/<id>-*.md, workspace/pipeline/tracker.csv (existing contact/referral_path), templates/outreach-templates.md
• Needs from user:
  • Their network at or near the company. Ask: "Do you know anyone there, or anyone who might?" Ask them to check LinkedIn 1st + 2nd degree, past coworkers, alumni, community and Slack groups. This is the single most important input and it lives in the user's head, so don't skip it.
  • Permission to web-search for the hiring manager and recruiter by name.
  • Optional: agent-reach (LinkedIn/people research backend, documented in docs/integrations.md) if configured, a power-up for mapping 2nd-degree connections and finding the HM/recruiter. Never required. Degrade to plain web search plus asking the user.

Workflow

1. Confirm the target. One company, one role, one req URL. If there are three, do the strongest-fit one first. This is manual, high-touch work and quality beats volume.
2. Map every possible warm path. Build the candidate list:
   • People the user already knows there (1st degree), the gold. Ask directly.
   • 2nd-degree: mutuals who could intro. Ask the user "who do you know who knows someone there?" and/or use agent-reach/web search on the company + their network.
   • Affinity paths: shared alma mater, past employer, community, open-source, conference, mutual creator/newsletter audience. These make a "cold" note warm.
   • The hiring team: identify the hiring manager (the person whose team the role sits on) and the recruiter on the req, by name. Web-search the role title plus company plus "hiring" or LinkedIn, check the job post's poster, and check the company's team or about page (optional defuddle for a clean extract).
3. Rank the paths by strength. Always this order. Pursue the strongest available and don't default to cold:
   1. Internal referral. Someone inside submits you through the referral system. Highest conversion by far.
   2. Warm intro via a mutual. A 2nd-degree connection introduces you to the HM or a team member.
   3. Direct-but-warm HM note. No intro, but a genuine affinity/specific hook that makes it not-cold.
   4. Recruiter. Reach the recruiter directly after (or instead of) the portal.
   5. Cold apply. The portal alone. Baseline only, and never the plan when 1–4 exist.
4. Pick the play and draft the message. Choose the matching template from templates/outreach-templates.md:
   • path 1 → referral ask (#1): make it zero-effort for them by offering a forwardable blurb.
   • path 2 → intro request (#2): write the forwardable note so the mutual just hits send.
   • path 3 → cold HM note (#3): one specific true sentence tying the user's proof point to a problem the team is visibly solving. Personalize hard: name the real person, one verifiable detail (not flattery, but evidence you did the work), one ask, under 90 words. When asking for a referral, always include a short forwardable blurb the contact can paste. Remove the friction.
5. Run writing-quality on every message. No exceptions. Strip the AI-slop tells ("I hope this finds you well", "I wanted to reach out", "leverage", "excited about the opportunity"). Short and specific beats polished.
6. Run artifact-eval (outreach spec) as the second gate. After writing-quality passes, submit every drafted message to artifact-eval against the outreach spec. Fix any REVISE/FAIL and re-submit until PASS. Only a PASS message goes to the human to send. This mirrors the two-gate sequence in resume-tailor and cover-letter (writing-quality, then artifact-eval → PASS, human approves/sends).
7. Record it. Write into the application record and tracker:
   • contact = the person's name/handle, referral_path = the ranked path ("internal referral via Jane Doe" / "2nd-degree via Sam @ mutual").
   • Add contacts under ## Contacts & referral path in the application record with relationship + warm/cold + the drafted message saved to workspace/output/<id>-outreach-<name>.md.
   • Set next_action = "follow up if no reply" and next_action_date = send date + 5–7 business days.
8. Hand the message to the human. Never auto-send. Present the draft, the recipient, and where you'd send it (LinkedIn DM / email / referral form). The user reviews and sends. If they report a reply, log it and set the next step (intro accepted means send the forwardable blurb, referral in means apply through the portal with the referral attached).

Output

• Writes to:
  • workspace/output/<id>-outreach-<name>.md – the drafted message(s), recipient, channel, and the forwardable blurb
  • workspace/pipeline/applications/<id>-*.md – ## Contacts and referral path populated, plus a timeline note
  • workspace/pipeline/tracker.csv – contact, referral_path, next_action, next_action_date updated
• Format: each message block = To / Channel / Message (<90 words) / Forwardable blurb (if referral or intro) / Follow-up date, closed with a one-line gate receipt: writing-quality: PASS · artifact-eval: PASS (outreach v<ver>, score N). Ranked-paths summary at the top so the user sees why this play was chosen.

Rules & quality bar

• Referral > warm intro > warm HM note > recruiter > cold apply. Always try to move up the ladder before applying. Applying cold when a 2nd-degree path existed is a wasted shot.
• One ask per message. Don't stack "intro AND feedback AND coffee". Ask for the single thing that moves you forward.
• Under 90 words. Every message. If it scrolls, it's too long.
• No fabrication. Don't invent a shared connection, a mutual, or a fake "we met at". Every specific detail must be true. If there's no real hook, say so and use the honest cold-HM note.
• The user owns their relationships. You draft. They decide who to contact and what to send. Never auto-send, never mass-blast, never impersonate the user to a real person.
• Make referral asks effortless for the contact. Always supply the paste-ready blurb. A referral ask with no blurb dies in the contact's inbox.
• Every produced message clears both gates before a human sees it: writing-quality first, then artifact-eval (outreach spec) to a PASS. Non-negotiable for anything a human will send. Same two-gate sequence as resume-tailor and cover-letter.

Related skills

• Reads from: job-search-setup (profile/proof points), job-fit-scoring (which roles earn this effort), company-research (the HM's priorities, the team's problems, which make sharper hooks), story-bank (the proof point to lead with)
• Ends with: writing-quality (mandatory slop gate on every message), then artifact-eval (outreach spec). Both must PASS before the human sends
• Feeds: application-tracker (contact + referral_path + follow-up cadence), interview-prep (your inside contact is a prep source)
• Optional power-ups: agent-reach (people/LinkedIn research), defuddle (clean extract of team and about pages). See docs/integrations.md