Especially for people in 'prestigious' jobs, assuming tons of peers/friends are asking for a referral, how do you balance the desire to help a buddy out with the fact that the friend may/may not be a good fit for a job.
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In that case, I only help. I don’t refer
tf u think
Yes, their belief in your judgement becomes shaky.
Depends on how well you know your boss. lol one time I literally handed my boss my friends resume and said " he wanted me to refer him, but he is not going to be good at this job".
Depends on the degree of recommendation aka “I talked to this person who reached out to me on LinkedIn , could be worth an interview” vs “we worked together for years, hes one of my good friends and would absolutely crush it here” as well as the degree of bomb aka did he mess up on a few technical questions or did he completely ramble on about politics, mandatory vaccinations, says he is interested in the work for the money, says he posts on this site, etc any of the above really
Absolutely, yes. Once you recommend them, you’re staking your professional reputation that this is someone worth talking to.
No one will ever blame you if the outcome is something like “sharp guy, right profile, probably needs another couple years at current level before he’d be a good fit for this role” or like “great background, knows his shit, but experience is too tactical”. People will 100% hold it against you if the person shows up and acts unprofessionally, lied about their background, etc.
Bombing the interview is a mixed bag - missed the technicals because they didn’t see the outside the box answer or struggled to do second-order thinking? Probably won’t be held against you, but won’t help your reputation either. Bombing the interview because they’re woefully unprepared and unqualified? Pretty bad look for you.
Agree with the above to an extent - if it’s a personal / professional relationship, people will hold you to a higher standard than “this guy reached out to me, seems like a decent background, anything we can do for him?”. That said, if the person is 1000% off the mark, people will be annoyed that you took the time to pass them along even if you don’t know them personally
I’ve always made a point of giving honest recommendations. “Great guy, will be a good cultural fit, but he’ll need some handholding to get up to speed” or “she crushes it and I think very highly of her, but she talks a lot about entrepreneurial aspirations and trying to get a venture off the ground - we should talk to her but I worry she might be distracted”
What if they get an offer and then reject it? Recommended a guy to a senior who got him an interview. He got the offer and hit it off with everyone but then declined
Reputational capital is a big thing and needs to be taken seriously. When I can, I help or refer but I define "can". In order for "can" to exist, I have to think positively of the candidates IQ, EQ, acumen, disposition, willingness to grind, and all the intangibles that would make him/her the right rock. If they're missing something, I'll let them know what they need to work on in order for me to get involved (and many times I'd be happy to help them gain that piece through mentorship, coaching, etc.) Have connected many to good situations. Scratch my head when a few refuse to do what's necessary in order to be good candidates (and that's a great sign that they would fail in the job).
Had a dad I know reach out to me about his kid (who I knew) who had just graduated. The dad, in direct terms, asked me if I could help get his son a job. I asked him to have his kid contact me, send a resume, etc. I've known this kid for many yrs. Our kids played ball together on a good baseball team. Kid sends me a resume. I read it and say to myself, "there's no way I can send it on to anyone. It's not professional. It basically says nothing. etc." So I speak to the kid and give him guidance regarding revamping his resume. He does that and I tell him he made good progress but he needs to tweak it to be more action oriented, results based, blah blah blah. Geez you think he would thank me, but rather acted annoyed that I gave him a job to do. I actually told him once he got it to a good place, I'd be happy to send it to some folks I know who could easily help him. Never heard from him again.
Bottom line, many are happy to help, but you have to understand we take our credibility quite seriously. Your work a lifetime to build it and you can lose it immediately. Be the right rock if you want someone who can help to actually help.
Above two posters are spot on. It won't tank you obviously but it will cost you social / political capital. There are subtle ways to do this as highlighted above but unfortunately you need to exercise discretion before putting your name behind someone.
They never have to know if you did/didn't refer them. Personally, I'll give them my advice and, if they appear competitive, I'll give them a mock case interview. If I feel comfortable with their abilities, I give them a referral.
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