Walmart Inc. has cemented its status as an essential pillar of American retail, boasting an extensive network of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery outlets throughout the United States. Evolving into a retail giant, Walmart has significantly influenced consumer culture while continuously enhancing convenience for its patrons. Embracing a tech-first approach, Walmart has made substantial strides in leveraging technology to streamline operations and enhance customer experiences. Moreover, its significant IT presence in India underscores its commitment to global expansion and innovation.
Securing an Software Engineer role at Walmart is highly sought after for Indian tech professionals. However, gaining entry into this position can be challenging. While the conventional approach involves applying directly through the Walmart jobs portal, a more accessible and effective route is to obtain a referral from an existing employee.
In this article, we'll explore how you can leverage a referral to enhance your chances of landing a rewarding career opportunity within this tech powerhouse.
How to get a job at Walmart?
Coming to the main question first, how to get into Walmart. There are several ways of doing that. First go over to Walmart careers page and scour through it and find the job you're looking for. You can check active jobs on their LinkedIn page as well. Apply to the job and wait for your resume to get shortlisted out of hundreds of resumes.
But if you’re looking for a more effective and an expeditious way to land a job at Walmart, you should consider following the referral process. This method entails asking current employees who can advocate for you within the company for a specific job role. The referral process is advantageous for three primary reasons: firstly, existing employees already possess credibility, so anyone they vouch for is likely to be viewed favorably. Secondly, if their referral doesn't meet expectations or leaves the company shortly after joining, it could affect their reputation within the company. Some companies have employee referral programs and employees get monetary incentives if their referral joins the company. Therefore, they have a vested interest in recommending candidates who are qualified and likely to succeed.
How to Get a Job Referral
Let’s talk about the process of how to get a referral at Walmart. Here’s a step by step guide for it.
Finding a Potential Referrer
- Open LinkedIn and dive deep into research mode. Read and research about the company, its culture, and its employees.
- Try to find if anyone in your friend circle/ acquaintances/ college alumni are currently working at Walmart and reach out to them.
- You can install our chrome extension to cut through the manual process and see which of your 1st degree LinkedIn connections are connected to Walmart. You can even ask them to provide a referral through a 1 click easy process.
- Don’t sweat, if the above step doesn't work. You can check out job referral sites which have a curated list of people who have agreed to give referrals in their companies. We have made a list of Walmart employees who have agreed to give referrals. You can check out a few of them below (install our extension to check the rest).
- Aayush Tiwari - Currently working as Software Engineer at Walmart | Previously worked in Nebulae Digital | College: International Institute Of Information Technology, Hyderabad
- Anant Bhandarkar - Currently working as Senior Engineering Manager at Walmart | Previously worked in Impact Analytics, Clicksoftware, Accenture, Teleca India, Tech Mahindra | College: UBI Business School, Vishveshwaraiah Technological University
- Ashutosh Rai - Currently working as Data Engineer 3 at Walmart | Previously worked in Genpact, Bosch | College: Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar (2020)
- Atul Mishra - Currently working as Senior Software Engineer at Walmart | Previously worked in SAP, Philips, EY, Mindtree, Infosys | College: Jaypee University
- Bharghava Varun Ayada - Currently working as Staff Software Engineer at Walmart | Previously worked in Twilio, Imgur, Imgur, Yahoo, Einstasoft | College: Ms Ramaiah Institute Of Technology
- Debashish Roy - Currently working as Senior Engineering Manager at Walmart | Previously worked in Walmart, Factset, Mahindra Satyam | College: IIIT Bangalore, Visvesvaraya National Institute Of Technology
- K.S Ravi Kiran - Currently working as Cloud Advocate Professional at Walmart | Previously worked in Amazon, Oracle, Cognizant | College: Visveswaraiah Technological University
- Kuldeep Pal - Currently working as Data Engineer at Walmart | Previously worked in ZZ Associates, ANZ, TCS | College: Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya Bhopal (2018)
- Parth Sarthi Prasad - Currently working as Software Engineer at Walmart | College: Netaji Subhas Institute Of Technology New Delhi
- Ragurajan N - Currently working as Senior Software Engineer at Walmart | Previously worked in Alight, Wipro
- Saravanan Venkatachalam - Currently working as Lead Software Development Engineer at Walmart | Previously worked in Infosys, Cognizant | College: Dhanalakshmi College Of Engineering
- Saurabh Verma - Currently working as Software Engineer 3 ( Data Strategy And Insights ) at Walmart | Previously worked in, Jio, Aspire Systems | College: Meerut Institute Of Engineering And Technology
- Shashank Kumar - Currently working as Senior Data Analyst at Walmart | Previously worked in Mu Sigma Inc., Accenture | College: Bangalore Institute Of Technology Bangalore (2018)
- Zubair Khan - Currently working as Senior Sdet at Walmart | Previously worked in Deloitte | College: Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune
- Try to find people with whom you share a common interest with such as your ex- colleagues, college/ school mates, people from your hometown or people with mutual connections. If you don’t find anyone like that, try to find a mutual interest which you can talk about eg, interest in startups, finance or even anime.
You can also search potential referrers directly through LinkedIn
- Search for Walmart employees in the search bar and then filter them using connection, location and college filter. You can also navigate to the "People" tab on Walmart’s LinkedIn page and search through the employees.
- Remember to try to find people with maximum mutual interest and working in the same or similar role you want to apply for.
Crafting Your Request
- Now that you've identified your potential referrers, it's time to prepare your approach. Remember, personalization is key here.
- Start by researching the referrer's background and interests.
- Craft a LinkedIn message or email.
- Start with a brief greeting followed with an opening line using the shared interest (same college/ school, mutual connection/interest).
- Introducing yourself and explaining why you're reaching out. Be clear and concise about your intention, attach your resume and any relevant work sample.
- Highlight how your skills and experience align with the job requirements and the company's goals and make it clear why you're a perfect fit for the role. Emphasize on how it would benefit both the organization and yourself.
- Don't forget to express your gratitude for their time and consideration.
- Be patient about it and wait for at least a couple of days before sending a following up.
- Be polite in case they refuse or don’t reply. Thank them for their time and make sure that you don’t burn the bridges. If they refuse, try to get their feedback and work on it.
You can check out sample examples of personalized referral requests below in this article.
Bonus Tip: Making it Easy for your Referrer
To make it easy for your referrer, consider providing a prefilled message that they can simply copy and send to the hiring manager. We have attached the template below.
Sharing the template below:
Hi [Hiring Manager],
I hope this email finds you well.
I'm writing to recommend [name] for the [role]. [name] and I worked at [company] together/ attended the same college and collaborated on various projects during our time there. He's demonstrated himself as a hard worker and a dedicated team player.
Sharing his contact details below:
Email: xyz@gmail.com
Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx
Resume:
Best regards,
[referrar]
Samples for asking for Job Referral:
Email sample for job referral: Reaching out to a college senior
Hi Anuj,
Hope you’re doing well.
I don't know if you remember me or not but I worked as a volunteer in your team in our annual college cultural fest. We worked directly in the stage play event when the judge canceled at the last minute and led to the whole event getting delayed, quite a fiasco it was.
I'm actually reaching out to you because I needed a small favor. I recently saw that a Software Engineer position has opened up at Walmart and I'm interested in applying for it. Would it be possible for you to refer me for the same? I have 1.5 years of experience as a Fullstack Engineer at Weekday (a YC backed startup) and I believe my skills and experience align well with the requirements of the Software Engineer role at Walmart.
I've attached my resume for your reference. If you're able to provide a referral or offer any advice on the application process, I would be incredibly grateful.
Thank you for considering my request. I truly appreciate your time and assistance.
I know that you’ll be submitting a referral in your internal portal but in case you’re going to mail the hiring manager you can use something like this.
Hi [Hiring Manager],
I hope this email finds you well.
I'm writing to recommend Amit Singh for the Software Engineer role. Amit and I attended the same college and collaborated on various projects during our time there. He's demonstrated himself as a hard worker and a dedicated team player.
Sharing his contact details below:
Email: xyz@gmail.com
Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx
Resume:
Best regards,
Anuj
Warm Regards
Amit
Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx
Sample of how to ask for referral on LinkedIn: Reaching out to a person with mutual connection
Dear Anuj,
Hope you’re doing well.
I got your reference from Akhil. I believe you guys went to college together. He is an ex colleague of mine, we worked briefly together at Weekday before parting ways.
I'm actually reaching out to you because I needed a small favor. I am actively looking for a new job and saw that a Software Engineer position has opened up at Walmart. I wanted to see if it would be possible for you to refer me for it? I have 4 years of experience in a similar role at a YC backed startup. I believe I possess the technical skills and relevant experience required for this role.
Attaching my resume for your reference. If you're able to provide a referral or offer any advice on the application process, I would be incredibly grateful.
Thank you for considering my request. I truly appreciate your time and assistance.
Warm Regards
Amit
Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx