GSB Directory: Find Alumni Who Can Refer You
The GSB directory is a goldmine, but scrolling class lists by hand is slow and most people never message the alumni they find. Here is how to search it with a company in mind and turn a name into a reply.
Find Your Warm Intros →Free · No sign-up · See results in ~10 seconds
✍️ Ready-to-send intro“Hi - we both studied at [your school]. I’d love to hear about your path to a company you are targeting before I apply…”
… plus everyone else in your network who can put in a good word.
See who can refer you in - pick your target company:
Where the GSB directory actually lives
The GSB alumni directory is part of the Stanford GSB Alumni Community, not the public web. You reach it by logging in with your Stanford or GSB account, which means the profiles inside are richer than a plain LinkedIn search: class year, prior employers, and current role are usually filled in. Current students get access through their myGSB login.
That gating is a feature. Because everyone in the directory shares the GSB affiliation with you, a note that opens with 'fellow GSB grad' is not a cold pitch, it is a hello between two people from the same program.
How to search the directory for a warm path
Do not browse the directory like a phone book. Start from a target company and work backward to the people.
- Search by employer, not by name. Type the company you want into the employer or experience filter. The directory returns GSB alumni who work there now or worked there before, which is exactly the set of people who can refer you.
- Sort by how close the tie is. A classmate from your own cohort or a nearby class year will remember shared professors and clubs. Lead your note with that specific overlap instead of a generic ask.
- Cross-check the current role. The directory shows title and team. Message the person a level or two senior to the role you want, not the recruiter, because they can drop your name to the hiring manager directly.
- Note prior employers too. An alum who has left your target company still knows people inside and can forward you. Past employees are an underused second ring.
Let the ranking happen for you
The slow part is not finding the directory, it is cross-referencing hundreds of alumni against one company and deciding who is worth messaging first. FindWarmIntros does that finding-and-ranking step: you name a target company and it surfaces the real people who share a school or past employer with you, ranks them by how strong the tie is, and drafts a short intro you can edit. You still send the message, you just skip the scroll. Whether you work the directory by hand or use a tool, the rule holds: message a handful of the strongest ties this week, not a hundred someday.