Warm Intros

Use a Shared Former Employer to Get In

When you and everyone at your target company went to different schools, the alumni angle is dead. But a former employer you both passed through is a stronger anchor anyway, and most people never think to use it.

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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.

Example - what you’ll see

Someone who works at your target company

🎓 Same university as you · 💼 Shared past employer

🔥 Strongest

A recruiter at your target company

🎓 Same university as you

🎓 Alumni

✍️ 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:

Short answer: Find someone at your target company who once worked at a company you also worked at, even years apart. A shared employer beats a shared school because it implies shared context: the same tools, the same culture, the same war stories. Message them by naming the overlap first, ask for a 15-minute call or a quick take on the team, and only mention a referral once they know you.

Why a Shared Employer Beats a Shared School

A school connection says you sat in the same buildings a decade ago. A shared former employer says you survived the same reorg, used the same broken internal tools, and can name the same three people everyone complained about. That is real common ground, and it makes a stranger feel like a near-colleague in one sentence.

You do not need to have overlapped in time. Someone who left a company the year you joined still shares its lore, its interview reputation, and often its alumni Slack. The employer is the anchor; the exact dates are a detail you can mention later.

How to Turn a Former Employer Into a Path

The move is to work backward from the target company to the people inside it who carry a badge you also carry.

List every place you have worked. Include internships, contract gigs, and short stints. Each one is a potential anchor, and the smaller or more specific the company, the stronger the shared-context signal.
Find people at the target who list one of those employers. Search the target company and filter for anyone whose history shows a company from your list. These are your warm anchors even if you never met.
Rank by strength of overlap. Same team beats same office, same office beats same company, and any of them beats a stranger. A recent overlap is warmer than an ancient one, but even ancient counts.
Verify the overlap is real before you send. Confirm the person actually worked there, not just that a keyword matched, so your opening line does not fall apart on the first reply.

What to Say to an Ex-Coworker Two Companies Removed

Lead with the thing you share, not the thing you want. A good opener names the shared employer in the first line, so they place you before they decide whether to reply. Try: Hi Priya, saw you were at Ramp before this. I was there on the payments team in 2021, so we probably shared a few late deploys. I am exploring roles at your company and would love your honest read on the team. Fifteen minutes whenever suits you?

Notice what is missing: no referral ask, no resume, no pressure. You are making it cost them 30 seconds to say yes. The referral, if it comes, happens after they have talked to you and decided you are worth vouching for. If they reply warmly, then you can ask whether they would feel comfortable flagging your application internally.

Let the Overlap-Finding Happen for You

The tedious part is scanning a target company for the handful of people whose work history quietly overlaps with yours. That is the part FindWarmIntros does: you name the company you are aiming at and the places you have worked, and it surfaces and ranks the real people inside who share a former employer with you, then drafts an intro message that leads with the overlap. It is a free tool, and it turns an hour of manual profile-hunting into a short list you can act on today.

You still send the messages and you still bring the judgment about who to approach first. The tool just removes the reason most people never start: not knowing who inside the company they already have a thread to.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if I only overlapped by a few months at the shared employer?

A short overlap still works. Name the team and the time period, and lean on shared specifics like a product launch or an office move. Even zero time overlap is fine if you both carry the company on your history; the shared context, not the shared calendar, is what warms the intro.

Is a former employer really warmer than a shared school?

Usually yes for job hunts. A school ties you to a place from years ago, while a former employer ties you to the same tools, culture, and reputation the person still remembers vividly. It also signals you can do similar work, which a shared major does not.

Should I mention I want a referral in my first message?

No. Ask for their read on the team or a 15-minute call first. A referral is something people give after they trust you, so leading with it makes a stranger feel used. Earn the conversation, then let the referral come up naturally once they know you.

What if nobody at my target company shares a former employer with me?

Widen the net. Count internships, contract roles, and short stints, and check second-degree overlaps like a company both of you left for the target. If there is genuinely no overlap, fall back to a specific, non-generic cold note referencing their actual work rather than a mass template.

Keep going

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