Modern Vespa

My nephew needs a job and will be applying for one today at a local firm. My question is, I know several people there and my mom wants me to "phone a friend" and ask them to put in a good word.

The question is, if you have called for someone or had someone "phone you for a favor", how is it done successfully?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. I have slept on it all night and still not sure.

Well do you believe he's capable? I know it sounds really tough of me but your post implies you have doubts.

Otherwise its a case of listing the virtues of a candidate and asking them to consider over the phone. If someone is good enough then you don't have to do anything really. If they aren't, you risk pissing off a friend and also not doing your own rep much good. People hate being told someone is good and putting their reputation out when its not backed up later on.

I agree with wonder on this, you don't need to call in favors if the person is solid. You could call and see what the position is for and the expectaions then tell them you someone is interested, but leave it at that, No recommendations.

Yes, he is capable. I think my hesitation comes from not having done this before. I have looked at the job listing and will definitely do as you suggest and point out his virtues and skills that will meet quite nicely with their job listing.

I understand what you are saying OAD. I don't want to call in favors and I do not want this friend to perceive it as such. I believe there is a fine line between this, but if I can help him get his foot in the door, I want too.

I say it's worth asking your friends for a bit more information about the business that can be mentioned in an interview. That's just doing research which is a good idea. I'd be wary of asking for favours though as this can be counterproductive.

If you have good things to say, then tell him to give your name as a reference.

There's probably not much time since he is applying today, but you could write a letter of recommendation that he could include with his application.

The light bulb has finally turned on! I believe you have given me a thought on how to approach this, which has been my greatest concern. The hard part was I know about the business as I grew up with many of the people who work there, including the CEO of the firm, so I was not comfortable trying to use the research approach.

I totally agree with everyone about not "calling in favors" and this was preventing me from figuring out how to approach my friend with my nephew's interest in the job.

Many corporations won't take references from relatives, but he does have references from people these friends will recognize, so that will be another thing in he needs to be sure and include with his cover letter and resume.

Thanks to each of you guys for helping me figure out how to approach this today. All went well mostly due to you guys helping me figure out which direction to take this conversation with my friend.