Employers ignore almost everything on your applicationexcept this - CareerEnlightenment.com

Another recent paper from researchers at the University of Minnesota and UC Berkeley  found that these hires aren’t necessarily more skilled or smarter than other applicants. But researchers found that  the referral hiring advantage exists across a big range of industries, in this case trucking, call centers, and technology.A recent story on the phenomenon at The New York Times  (paywall) found that at  EY (formerly Ernst Young) 45% of non-entry placements are referrals after an aggressive move to increase them. The figure from Deloitte is 49%. At Sodexho, referrals are 10 times  more likely  to be hired, reflecting  research finding that lower skilled jobs tend to be even more referral-dependent.Employees are frequently  incentivized with bonuses to refer people, usually with some tie to retention so they’re not passing along people who aren’t very good. It’s usually in the $1,000-$3,000 range. But the technology industry has taken things to extremes, offering upwards of $ 10,000. Some 70% of firms have formal programs to encourage referrals.There’s a reason companies prefer to hire people who are referred. Such applicants have  been shown repeatedly in studies  (pdf) to  be significantly more likely to stay at a firm for longer, and to be  more productive (pdf). This might be because the workers are better matches, or because they have a pre-existing mentor or monitor in the person that helped hire them.Referrals also come pre-vettedâ€"to a certain extentâ€"and cost less to find.Of course, there are down sides to the referral obsession. People overwhelmingly tend to refer those who are like themselves. A significant majority of referrals tend to be people of the same gender and race, and of a similar educational and socio-economic background.  That can lead  to a great deal of homogeneity in the workplace.Perhaps the biggest current real-world  example is Silicon Valley. Referrals are much more common in strong labor markets, and tech certainly qua lifies.  That has helped contribute to a workforce where some 80 plus percent of employees employees are men at  the industry’s leading companies, and almost all white or Asian.Referrals have a diversity  cost.  But companies will generally take the easier path that’s cheaper and more productive.For those without the inclination to network, this can be tough news to hear. But the data is clear: making connections pays off more than another dozen online applications.