An internal referral gets a resume routed directly to a recruiter or hiring manager — bypassing the anonymous application queue entirely. New grads underuse this because they assume they don't have a network yet. The U&B alumni network exists specifically to close that gap.
University & Beyond maintains an active network of alumni now working at major companies — including Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft — who volunteer time for informational interviews and, where there's a genuine fit, internal referrals.
Share your target roles and companies during a strategy call, and we'll check for alumni currently working there or in adjacent teams.
We make the initial introduction so the first message isn't cold — alumni are far more responsive to a warm intro than an out-of-nowhere LinkedIn request.
A short call to learn about the role, the team, and the company's actual hiring process — not an ask for a job on the first conversation.
If the conversation goes well and there's a genuine match, the alumnus may offer to submit an internal referral — never guaranteed, always earned.
Short, specific, and low-pressure outperforms long and eager every time. Use these as starting points, not word-for-word scripts.
Avoid asking directly for a job or a referral on a first call — let the conversation build naturally, and let the alumnus offer if it feels right.