BlackRock Job Referral - Software Engineer
My first programming job was at a bank. I knew one of the executives while working at the bank. She's now a managing director at BlackRock, probably making over half a million dollars a year. If she refers me to a software engineering role at BlackRock, how much would her position have an influence on the likelihood of me getting the job? She also leads one of the products at BlackRock, so would it help if I applied to a position in that product? I have 3 years of experience.
Two things to consider: 1. Given her position,she won’t refer you if she doesn’t remember positive things about you. An MD referring a below average candidate is not going to look good for her internally. 2. If she does refer you, and you get hired, she’s once again better off if you actually passed the interview process on your own merit, instead of get hired because she is an MD, only to crash and burn later once your performance is visible team-wide. Ask for a referral. Then study hard and beat the interview as if you didn’t get referred by an MD. I promise it will be better for you both.
Referral would not impact as much. You have to show your skills at the interviews. We get a lot of referrals, but only pass whoever is good. Blackrock cares about skill fit and cultural fit. Her referral might help you at the cultural fit if she gave good feedback
Why not ask her?
I was stuck working on data analysis tools at my first job for 2 years, writing scripts to parse data and using JavaScript to create graphs. But the positions I want at BlackRock involve Java backend development on large scale financial products.