For a lot of companies, it is true that getting an employer to respond to your applications is based on who you know. This is why many companies have a referral program for their employees.

This matters more now than ever. The average job opening gets 250-300+ applications, roughly triple what it was a few years ago, and most large companies use AI to screen resumes before a human sees them. Referred candidates get hired at around 40% once they apply, versus 2-3% for cold applicants, partly because referrals often skip the AI screen entirely. A warm path in is worth more than fifty cold applications.

In this short article, we'll talk about how to find recruiters to connect to. A few ground rules that hold up in 2026: personalize every connection request (mention something they posted or share a real reason), keep your ask small at first (a 15-minute chat to learn about the team beats "can you refer me"), and follow up within a day when someone responds. After three follow-ups with no reply, move on; more messages past that point don't help.

Table of Contents

• 1. Head to the company page on LinkedIn.
• 2. Select the link to see all employees.
• 3. Select the "All filters" button at the top of the page.
• 4. Apply keywords to filter the employees' titles by, and show new results.
• 5. Find and contact recruiters that your role matches to.

1. Head to the company page on LinkedIn.

Search for the company's LinkedIn page.

2. Select the link to see all employees.

The company page will include details on it, including its list of employees' LinkedIn profiles.

3. Select the "All filters" button at the top of the page.

There are ~7,500 employees with LinkedIns at this company. Select the "All filters" button at the top of the page to open a panel to apply filters to this list.

4. Apply keywords to filter the employees' titles by, and show new results.

Apply these keywords: Talent OR Recruiter OR Recruiting

You can tweak the keywords since it depends on the company. Here are examples of titles that these keywords would filter for:

• Talent Acquisition @ [Company name]
• Talent Solutions
• Talent @ [Company name]
• Technical Recruiter
• Technical Recruiting
• Technical Sourcer
• Sourcing Recruiter
• Recruiting Manager
• Recruiting @ [Company name]

Show the new results.

5. Find and contact recruiters that your role matches to.

You've struck gold! Now the list will have shortened from a list of 7,500 to a list of 23 possible contacts. This is a much more manageable list of employees who do some type of recruiting at the company. Now you can find the recruiters with titles or location that match your application.

When connecting to a recruiter, mention that you've applied to a certain role for their company and add a one-line sentence explaining how your experience fits the role. Include the job application ID if available.