Start with a role, then choose a person
You find a backend opening that looks relevant. LinkedIn shows a recruiter, an engineering manager and several employees at the company. Whom should you contact? Start with the question you need answered. A recruiter may clarify the application process. An engineer on the relevant team may explain the work. A familiar alumnus may offer context. These are different reasons to start a conversation; none automatically makes that person the owner of the vacancy.
Use the employer’s current posting as your starting point. Keep the job title, link, location and job ID if available. Read the application instructions before messaging anyone. If the company asks candidates to apply through its careers site, do that. A LinkedIn message should add useful context or ask a focused question, not replace a required application.
The method below is Opened’s editorial recommendation, not a tested formula for replies. The names, employers and projects in the examples are fictional. Adapt them to facts you can support.
Look for the strongest connection to the opening
First, look for a person explicitly named on the posting or a recent public post sharing that exact vacancy. LinkedIn documents a “Meet the hiring team” area in its help guidance. Use it when it appears, but do not assume every listing has one or that every messaging feature is available on your account. The linked help page describes a writing-assistant feature with specific access restrictions; you do not need that feature to use the approach in this guide.
Next, look for evidence of relevant scope: a recruiter who publicly covers engineering in that location, or a manager who identifies the team named in the posting. A title such as “Talent Acquisition” is only a starting clue. If you cannot connect their public remit to the role, make the uncertainty explicit rather than calling them the hiring manager.
An employee or alumnus can be worth contacting when you have a real shared connection or a precise question about their work. Ask for perspective before asking them to endorse you. Working at a company does not mean someone knows every opening or is comfortable referring a stranger.
Read the diagram
- Start with direct evidence. A person named on the opening is the strongest lead.
- Match the question. Recruiter for process, engineer for work, alumnus for context.
- Verify before contacting. Confirm current affiliation; do not assume hiring ownership or a referral.
Use a short evidence check before sending
Imagine that a public post says, “Our Bengaluru platform team is hiring backend engineers,” and links to your target role. That is stronger evidence than a profile that merely says “Recruiter at ExampleCo.” It still does not prove the person can offer a referral or advance your application. If their connection is unclear, ask whether they are the right contact.
- Current affiliation: does their public profile still show the employer? Check for conflicting information in recent posts or a company team page.
- Relevant scope: is there a connection to this team, role family or location? Write down what supports it, not just their seniority.
- Specific source: save the public posting or profile link that explains why you chose this person. Note when you checked it.
- Right question: can this person reasonably answer what you are asking? A team engineer is unlikely to resolve an unrelated billing or application-system problem.
- Respectful channel: use the professional contact option they make available. Do not guess personal email addresses or chase the same person across channels.
Write one message with one useful question
A useful first message identifies the role, explains one relevant part of your experience and makes a small, answerable request. Keep the claim concrete. “I built the retry path for our webhook worker” gives someone more to work with than “I am passionate about scalable systems.” Link to one relevant example if it is public and safe to share.
Fresher example: “Hi Ananya, I saw your post about the backend internship at ExampleCo. I’ve applied through the careers page. My queue project includes retry tests and a short demo: [link]. The posting mentions distributed systems—are academic or personal projects considered for this internship? Thank you.”
Experienced engineer example: “Hi Dev, your post links to ExampleCo’s platform opening, job 123. I’ve worked on webhook delivery and can share a public write-up of a personal retry-worker project: [link]. Are you the right contact to clarify whether this role focuses on product APIs or platform reliability?”
These are direct-message examples, not promises that they fit every connection-note limit. Use the limits shown in your account. For a short invitation, explain the connection to their post and leave the longer question until a conversation is possible. Never describe a personal project as production employment.
Make the work link worth opening
The destination should make the claim easy to inspect. Put the project’s purpose, your contribution and one relevant technical decision near the top. Provide a working demo or instructions that someone can follow without your private credentials. A small, well-explained example is more useful than a folder of unexplained screenshots.
For a team project, identify what you owned and what others built. If your strongest work belongs to an employer, do not publish internal code, customer records or confidential metrics. Describe the decision at an appropriate level, or build a separate public demonstration and label it accurately.
GitHub supports profile pins to highlight selected repositories and gists. An ordinary portfolio link can work too. The format is less important than whether the reader can verify your specific claim.
Follow up with restraint, then move on
If you follow up, give the person time and add something useful: a clarified question, a relevant example or an update that you applied. One brief follow-up is a reasonable personal limit; it is not a guarantee or a LinkedIn platform rule. Respect a decline and do not treat silence as permission for repeated messages.
Keep a private note of whom you contacted and why so that you do not duplicate requests. Measure whether your question became clearer or your contact was relevant, not just how many messages you sent. A reply saying “this is a different team” is useful evidence for improving the next choice.
Opened shows reviewed LinkedIn contacts where supporting public evidence is available, alongside the source and checked date. Coverage is limited. A suggested contact is not a confirmed vacancy owner or a promised referral, and Opened does not send outreach for you. Use the evidence to make your own decision.