Turn a Shared School Into a Warm Intro
You found someone at your target company who went to your school, but you have never met them. Here is how to open so they actually reply, and how to make the intro cost them 30 seconds.
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A plain LinkedIn search buries the people who would actually help you.
It ranks by prominence, so the most-followed, most-messaged names sit on top. FindWarmIntros surfaces the coworkers who share your school or a past employer - the people most likely to reply - and hands you a ready-to-send intro.
✍️ 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:
Why the shared school is your actual opener
Alumni reply because you are not a stranger, you are a younger version of them. A person who shares your major or your dorm has a real reason to spend two minutes on you that a random recruiter does not.
So the school is not small talk you get out of the way. It is the whole reason the message works. Put it in the first seven words, before you have said a single thing about yourself or what you want.
The four-part outreach that gets replies
Send this as a connection request note, not a cold InMail. A note under 300 characters attached to a request gets read next to their decision to accept.
- Name the tie first. Open with 'Fellow (school) grad here, I saw you studied (program) too.' They should know in one line why you, specifically, are reaching out.
- Give one specific reason it is them. 'I noticed you moved from consulting into product at (company)' beats 'I admire your career.' Specific proves you did not blast fifty people.
- Ask for their read, not their referral. First message: 'Would you be open to a 15-minute call on how you broke in?' A referral is something they offer after they like you, never something you request from a stranger.
- Make the reply cost 30 seconds. Offer two time slots or one yes/no question. The easier you make the first reply, the more first replies you get.
Finding the right alumni without scrolling for hours
LinkedIn will show you thousands of people from your school and none of the filter you actually need: who works at your target company AND overlaps with you enough to care. You can build that list by hand, filtering the school page by company and reading each profile for a shared program or graduation window.
FindWarmIntros does that finding-and-ranking step for you. You give it a target company and your school, and it surfaces the real people there who share that school, ranks them by how strong the overlap is, and drafts an opener grounded in what you actually share. You still send the message and build the relationship, but you skip the hour of scrolling.
After they reply: turning a chat into a referral
Do not ask for a referral on the first call. Ask one useful question, listen, and send a two-line thank-you the same day. That single follow-up is what separates people who get referred from people who get forgotten.
When you do ask, make it specific and easy: 'Would you be comfortable flagging my application to the hiring manager for the (role)?' Attach the link and one sentence they can paste. You are handing them a finished favor, not a project.