The LinkedIn Reachability Index
Who a public LinkedIn search actually shows you at eight major employers, measured with live data: the first page is stacked with executives who will never answer a cold message.
Quick answer
Public LinkedIn search ranks people by prominence, so the first profiles you see at a big company are often executives: KPMG had 4 in its first ten when we measured, Anthropic 3. Prominence is close to the opposite of who replies to a referral request. The people who actually pass referrals along sit a rung or two from the job you want.
- 13 of the 80 first-page profiles across eight employers were executives.
- A referral-focused ranking pushes the same executives to average position 21 to 30.
- Message senior ICs, team leads, and recent hires on the team you are targeting instead.
The index: executive pollution in the first ten results
For each company below we ran the same public people search a job seeker would, sampled the profiles it returned, and counted how many of the first ten are executives. Each row lists its own sample size and the share of sampled profiles our parser places at that company, because this measures who is findable through public search, not how many people work anywhere. Search results shift, so the counts move; this snapshot was measured 3 August 2026.
| # | Company | Execs in first 10 | Example titles in those ten | Where our search ranks them | Sample | Your move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KPMG | 4/10 | Former Chair and CEO; President and Chair KPMG US Foundation | #21 avg | 29 profiles, 59% at KPMG | Get referred at KPMG → |
| 2 | Anthropic | 3/10 | Co-Founder; President | #27 avg | 30 profiles, 93% at Anthropic | Get referred at Anthropic → |
| 3 | JPMorgan | 3/10 | COO; Chief Procurement Officer | #25 avg | 30 profiles, 77% at JPMorgan | Get referred at JPMorgan → |
| 4 | Databricks | 1/10 | Cofounder | #30 avg | 30 profiles, 63% at Databricks | Get referred at Databricks → |
| 5 | OpenAI | 1/10 | Chief Research Officer | #27 avg | 28 profiles, 79% at OpenAI | Get referred at OpenAI → |
| 6 | Uber | 1/10 | Chief Technology Officer | #25 avg | 25 profiles, 72% at Uber | Get referred at Uber → |
| 7 | 0/10 | none in the first ten | #30 avg | 30 profiles, 70% at Google | Get referred at Google → | |
| 8 | Morgan Stanley | 0/10 | none in the first ten | #24 avg | 28 profiles, 68% at Morgan Stanley | Get referred at Morgan Stanley → |
Method and honesty notes at the bottom of the page. Download the full dataset as JSON (CC BY 4.0: free to cite with a link to this page).
Why the first page is the wrong page
Search engines rank profiles by prominence: follower counts, press, seniority. That is useful when you want to know who runs a company, and close to useless when you want someone to walk your resume to a hiring manager. A Former Chair and CEO does not answer cold referral requests; the volume of inbound alone makes it impossible.
The people who say yes are one or two rungs from the job you want: senior individual contributors, team leads, and recent hires who remember what the search felt like. They get a fraction of the cold messages, they know the hiring manager, and at most large companies a successful referral literally pays them a bonus (see our referral bonus data page).
Our free search inverts the prominence ranking: the executives above landed at average position 21 to 30 in our results for the same companies, while the top of the list goes to reachable people who share something with you.
Quotable numbers
Citing this page? Any of these lines can be quoted as is, with a link back here (CC BY 4.0).
Four of the first ten profiles a public LinkedIn search returns for KPMG are executives, including a Former Chair and CEO. Measured 3 August 2026.
A plain LinkedIn search for Anthropic puts three of its most senior people, co-founders among them, in the first ten results. Measured 3 August 2026.
Across eight major employers, 13 of the 80 profiles on the first page of a public LinkedIn people search are executives, the people least likely to answer a cold message from a stranger.
A referral-focused ranking pushes those same executives down to average position 21 to 30 and leads with managers and senior individual contributors instead.
Check it yourself in 30 seconds
- Open LinkedIn and search a big company name under People, or run a web search for public profiles at that company.
- Count the executives in the first ten profiles you see.
- Ask yourself which of those ten would realistically answer a stranger asking for a referral.
Then run the same company through our search and compare who ranks first.
See who can actually refer you - free →
Pick your target company:
Frequently asked questions
What is the LinkedIn Reachability Index?
A measurement of who a plain public LinkedIn people search actually surfaces at eight major employers. For each company we run the same search a job seeker would, sample the first pages of results, and count how many of the first ten profiles are executives. Executives rank high because search rewards prominence, but prominence is close to the opposite of who replies to a referral request.
Why are executives the wrong people to ask for a referral?
A CEO or co-founder receives so much inbound that a cold message from a stranger is effectively invisible, and most are too far from day to day hiring to walk your resume to a hiring manager anyway. The people who actually pass referrals along sit a rung or two from the job: senior individual contributors, team leads, and recent hires on the team you are targeting.
How is the index measured?
Each company row samples public LinkedIn profiles returned for that company by the same search query our product runs, then scores them with the shipped ranking code. Each row lists its sample size and the share of profiles the parser places at the target company. It measures who is findable through public search, not how many people work anywhere. Roles only; no personal names are stored or published. Search results shift, so the counts move; this snapshot was measured 3 August 2026.
Who should I message instead?
Someone one or two rungs from the role you want, ideally with an overlap that makes the message feel natural: same school, a shared past employer, or the same team. That is exactly what our free search ranks first.
Method, honestly
- Live results from the same company search query our product runs, scored by the shipped ranking code under a company-only plan. The published numbers and the product cannot drift apart, because they are the same code path.
- 230 public profiles sampled across eight companies (KPMG 29, Anthropic 30, JPMorgan 30, Databricks 30, OpenAI 28, Uber 25, Google 30, Morgan Stanley 28), measured 3 August 2026.
- An executive only counts if the profile is placed AT the target company by the parser. A founder of some other company appearing in the results does not count. Ambiguous company queries (for example LinkedIn itself, whose people search matches half the network) are excluded entirely rather than published with a caveat.
- This measures who is findable via public search, not company headcount, and not anyone's willingness to help. Search results shift daily; treat every number as a dated snapshot.
- Roles only. No personal names are stored in the dataset or published on this page.
Related: referral bonus amounts by company 路 why referrals work (the stats) 路 how to get a job referral, step by step