[scrooched_moose]

I think that's really the issue.

I've received some big breaks by knowing the correct people, but not a single one of them has been a 2-minute connection from some BS networking event. It's always been a preexisting, unrelated relationship which eventually becomes career relevant.

I'm shocked by the number of seniors/recent grads who contact me out of the blue (god knows where they got my info) asking for recommendations or a break. No, I'm not going to stick my neck out by recommending someone I've never met for an open position.

[joshklein]

On the other hand, when a recent grad or otherwise distant connection-of-a-connection reaches out to ask me to coffee or a 15-minute call to “pick my brain” about my career experiences (a so-called “informational interview”), I almost never turn them down.

[pthomas551]

This is the way to do it. Then make the ask for a referral, interview, etc. at the end. It usually works, I've gotten a good job doing this.

[ghaff]

This. Hi! I'm one of the 100,000 people that happened to graduate from the same school that you did. Can you put in a referral for me?

Mind you. I am often happy to respond to a few questions in an email (or even a quick call) from pretty much anyone. Though a good percentage of the time, when I do that I don't get so much as a Gmail form "Thanks."

[pthomas551]

I'm not inherently opposed to referring people I don't know, as long as we have some sort of connection. The referral bonus at my company is pretty nice, after all.

So what I do is ask for a CV and cover letter; if they're good I can upload all the documents straight into the HR system and save the candidate the trouble.

In my experience, only a small minority of the cold outreach people actually respond to my request, and the responses I do get are usually low quality and don't merit a referral.