trendpreneur

It always seemed to me, back in the day, to be incredibly sycophantic and artificial to name drop in a job application.

You know the scene; you’re carefully composing your cover letter, and argue with yourself over whether to put in that you know John Smith, who also works at Random Company. Or perhaps Jane Doe, who you met for about 15 seconds at a networking event, when you nearly spilled Coke over her and retreated to the other side of the room, blushing furiously.

It depends, to some extent, how much you like namedropping in general, and how useful the name is going to be in your job application. When receiving a ton of random applications addressed to “Sirs” and originating from outwith the UK, a job application that gets more than a few seconds’ attention does one or more of the following:

• addresses me by name, if possible, possibly replying to a mailing list post I made announcing the vacancy;
• includes the name of someone I know who thought they’d be a good fit;
• or, should I have them, refers to employees (or ex-coworkers, I suppose) of mine that might have already spoken to me about their friend/acquaintance and this particular opening.

The second and third points are interesting, and totally go against my attitude of a few years ago that using someone’s name was too brown-nosey to bother with. The thing is that it’s fairly easy to write a job application, and especially so to write a bad one.

One really important sign that an application is worth my time is if someone else thinks it’s worth my time. Whether it’s a middleman who ’saw this and thought of you’ or someone I know more closely who’s actually taken the time to speak to me about you, having a second opinion that you’re a good fit for both my company and the job is a great help.

Of course, this can hideously backfire, or simply not work at all. It is possible to write it in an overly obsequious tone that just doesn’t go down well. More commonly, you’re referring to a third party who I don’t actually know, or whose opinion I don’t give particular weight to in this domain; though generally if they think you’re a decent enough sort to refer on, that’s a good sign anyway. Even if, say, it’s my dentist recommending a programmer, I’d assume my dentist wouldn’t recommend a complete psycho. (Disclaimer: I don’t have a dentist. Don’t try it.)

Then there’s the backfiring. Referring to someone I actively distrust, dislike or am otherwise on shaky ground with. I’ll admit there aren’t many people falling into this category, but it is possible. Perhaps it’s someone who simply has a track record of recommending people who turn out to be a waste of time.

Either way, expect me to contact the name you drop, unless (and this is the best case, of course) I’ve already spoken to them about you. It’s like an instant trusted reference. So you have to be a bit careful here, too, and not just randomly pull out a name knowing it’ll get my attention; nothing screams unprofessionalism like a phone call that results in a “What? I never told them to apply to you…”.

In an ideal world…

“Dear Jennie. I’m a Python programmer currently looking for a full-time job once I finish my current contract, and Bob Jones from Atlantial forwarded me your recent email to list. I’ve had a look at your website and…”

OK, perhaps not the most finely crafted ever, and it could backfire – Bob could be on the mailing list but I might not have met the guy or even heard of him before. On the plus side Bob might have cc’d me on said forward, and put in a brief note too. It’s all in the details.

And online?

As I was musing on this issue and composing this post in my head, it struck me that a situation in which I’m very familiar with third-party recommendations is in MMO guild recruitment. In the real world, everyone is a unique snowflake, but in games like WoW there can be very little to tell two people apart on paper. They have the same stats, the same experience, and each profess the same reasons for wanting to leave their guild and join yours. But one used to play with someone already in your guild, and the other is a complete stranger. Which do you interview first?

This can really backfire, of course. Being an online medium, people seem far more likely to develop polar opinions about someone, to magnify their bad habits, and to readily complain about them. It’s also easy for memory to blur details; you might namedrop someone you played with a year ago, who honestly doesn’t remember you. (Or, worse, mocks you for being in the same terrible guild they moved on from.)

Not only could the person you reference provide a negative opinion to those recruiting, you could also pick someone that the recruiters don’t like in the first place. It’s also a bad thing to seem too close to someone; guild officers rarely want best-friend cliques developing.

On the plus side it can work really well. Officers often fish around for recommendations on who to recruit, and if people who know you have pointed you out before, that can stand you in very good stead; you could even be headhunted! Capable, intelligent, communicative, social guild members tend to be good at spotting new potential fits, and good at assessing if someone they know would work well in the roster, so make sure your friend’s one of them – not a loot-hungry troublemaker who will do your application more harm than good.

In summary

Namedropping’s all well and good, and can make you stand out to a time-pressed recruiter (of whatever form). Just do your homework, especially on the name, and don’t make stuff up – then everyone will benefit.