【英语生活】求职捷径：巧用熟人关系

Your friends and business contacts may feel extra motivated to help you find work nowadays as businesses boost employee incentives for successful referrals.

Ringo Nishioka epitomizes the new mantra of job hunting: Who you know and what you know count more than ever.

The jobless executive landed the top human-resources spot for WhitePages Inc. in March, thanks to an introduction by a business-intelligence analyst there. Lotus Kam told executives that Mr. Nishioka shone in the same role when they worked together at another Seattle start-up. She will collect a $2,500 referral bonus after he reaches his three-month anniversary Thursday.

A third of the 27 people joining WhitePages since January came through such referrals. Mr. Nishioka and colleagues now teach associates throughout the company how to search for prospects in their LinkedIn networking accounts. 'Top talent knows top talent,' he says.

As hiring picks up, more companies are revamping their employee-referral programs. The trend offers fresh avenues -- and fresh challenges -- for frustrated job seekers.

Some businesses sweetened the bonus pot. WhitePages boosted referral payments from $500 this winter. Prudential Financial Inc. recently quintupled actuary referral awards to $5,000. Accenture PLC, which wants to recruit about 50,000 individuals in the year ending Aug. 31, also makes charitable donations of 600 euros (about $730) on behalf of each referring employee in the Netherlands as part of a pilot project.

Other employers aggressively tap online social media. Internal recruiters connect with workers' LinkedIn accounts so they can pinpoint promising contacts and arrange introductions. Companies pursuing this approach include units of Microsoft Corp. and Inverness Medical Innovations Inc., officials say.

A special new tool lets workers at Concur Technologies Inc. in Redmond, Wash., list openings immediately on their LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts. Staff referrals generated 48% of the 150 hires so far this year at the maker of online expense-management software.

'Employee referrals through social networking have changed the hiring game,' says Shelly Holt, its director of global recruiting.

The trick to finding someone at a desired workplace to champion your candidacy and help you thrive: creative outreach.

Banker Gladys Sandoval, looking to switch employers, opened an account she didn't need at a major bank she was hoping to work at near her Queens, N.Y., home. When she expressed interest in a branch manager's job, the manager serving Ms. Sandoval introduced her to his boss. She got hired and he soon pocketed a $1,000 referral bonus.

LinkedIn, with more than 65 million members, offers several ways to forge inside ties. It automatically scans the network for anyone who may know you -- as long as your LinkedIn profile contains extensive work and educational details.

LinkedIn also has roughly 500,000 specialized groups, organized by categories such as occupations, industries, alumni associations and products, that can be mined for connections. In joining a LinkedIn group that attracts participants from a targeted business, you should offer expertise about hot topics, says Eric Beauford, head of business development for Cachinko LLC, which assists businesses with employee referrals.

If you win a promised referral from a company insider, help that contact help you. Describe your recent accomplishments, their relevance to the vacancy and how you would overcome qualifications gaps. Lumedx Corp. insists staffers 'provide tangible, valid points about why this [referral] is a good person,' says Josh Jozwik, a technical recruiter for the specialized information-services concern in Oakland, Calif.

Employees risk damage to their reputations and the loss of a bonus from referring failed hires. A company often must be formally notified about such referrals by both the staffer and the applicant. Your internal connection may help you prepare for job interviews, too.

现在，你的朋友和生意场上的熟人可能会更热心地帮你找工作，因为企业提高了对成功推荐优秀人才的员工的奖励。

西冈林吾（Ringo Nishioka）的经历佐证了这句新的求职箴言：你认识的人和你了解的事比以往任何时候都更重要。

Mike Kane for The Wall Street Journal西冈林吾（右）通过以前同事的引荐在WhitePages找到了新工作。今年3月，这位失业的主管得到了WhitePages公司（WhitePages Inc.）人力资源负责人的职位，这多亏了这家公司中一位商业情报分析师的引荐。甘（Lotus Kam）告诉主管们，西冈和她一起在另一家西雅图的新公司工作时，他在同样的职位上干得很出色。本周四他就干满三个月了，此后她将获得2,500美元的推荐奖金。

今年1月以来，加入WhitePages的27个人中，有三分之一都是通过此类推荐入职的。现在，西冈和同事们正在教公司里的其他员工如何在LinkedIn的人际关系网络账户中搜索人才。“顶尖人才认识顶尖人才”，他说。

随着用工率的回升，更多公司开始改进其员工推荐计划。这一趋势为受挫的求职者提供了新的选择和新的挑战。

有些企业提高了奖金额度。今年冬天，WhitePages在原来500美元的基础上提高了推荐奖金金额。最近，保德信金融集团（Prudential Financial Inc.）将精算师推荐奖金涨到5,000美元，是原来的五倍。希望在8月31日结束的财年之内招到约50,000人的埃森哲公司（Accenture PLC）也为每位荷兰的推荐员工捐出了600欧元（约合730美元）的慈善捐款，作为一个试点项目的一部分。

还有些员工积极地利用在线社交媒体。内部招聘人员与职工的LinkedIn账户连接，这样他们就能精确地找出有希望的联系人并安排引荐。管理人士称，采用这种方法的公司包括微软公司（Microsoft Corp）的分支机构和英维利斯医疗诊断集团（Inverness Medical Innovations Inc.）。

一种特殊的新工具可以让位于华盛顿雷德蒙德（Redmond）的Concur Technologies公司（Concur Technologies Inc.）的员工在他们的LinkedIn、Facebook和Twitter账户上迅速列出工作机会。今年迄今为止，这家在线费用管理软件生产企业新招聘的150名员工中，有48%是通过员工推荐产生的。

“通过社交网络进行的员工推荐已经改变了招聘游戏规则”，Concur Technologies公司的全球招聘总监霍尔特（Shelly Holt）说。

在心仪的工作单位找到某个人，帮助你求职成功、事业有成的诀窍是：创造性地扩展搜寻范围。

打算换工作的银行家桑多瓦尔（Gladys Sandoval）希望到她在纽约皇后区的家附近的一家大银行工作，于是在这里开了一个她并不需要的账户。当她对分行经理的职位表示出兴趣时，为桑多瓦尔服务的银行经理将她介绍给自己的老板。她被雇用了，而那位银行经理很快就拿到了1,000美元的推荐奖金。

拥有超过6,500万名用户的LinkedIn提供了几种建立内部关系的方法。它会为任何可能认识你的人自动扫描关系网──只要你的LinkedIn档案包括丰富的工作和教育详细信息。

LinkedIn还有约500,000个按照职业、行业、校友会和产品等类别分类的专门群组，人们也可以利用它们来开发人际关系。Cachinko公司（Cachinko LLC，一家帮助企业处理员工推荐的公司）的业务拓展主管博福德（Eric Beauford）说，加入某个吸引了目标企业参与者的LinkedIn群组后，你应该就热门话题发表专业看法。

如果某位公司内部员工答应帮你推荐，那么帮助那个人来认识你。不妨介绍一下你最近的成就，它们与空缺职位的相关性，以及你将如何克服资历差距。Lumedx公司（Lumedx Corp.）坚持让员工“提供能说明这个被推荐人是理想人选的切实有效的信息”，尤日维克（Josh Jozwik）说。他是这家位于加利福尼亚州奥克兰（Oakland）的专业信息服务公司的技术招聘员。

员工们面临的风险是，如果推荐的人落选，那么他们的声誉会受损，奖金也会泡汤。通常，员工和求职者都必须将此类推荐正式通知公司。你的内部关系也可以帮助你为求职面试做好准备。