How to get a referral at Canva
A referral or a warm introduction through somebody who knows you both is the dependable route into Canva, and finding that somebody is a search most applicants never get around to.
By Jerry Feng, Growth at Happenstance. Updated August 31, 2026.
The short version
The best way to get a job at Canva is a referral or a warm introduction from an employee, and you get to that employee through someone you already know. Most applicants have that mutual without realizing it, maybe a former colleague who's now at Canva or a friend whose old roommate is on a product team there. Finding them is the work, and it's a search over accounts you already own. When you've found the person with the strongest tie, ask for a referral or an introduction with a message that's short enough to say yes to.
Why the warm path beats the queue at Canva
Canva makes an online design platform and hires across engineering, product, design, marketing, and customer support. A company that popular receives far more applications than its recruiters can give a careful read, so the ones that get one are mostly the ones an employee has already put a name to. A referral does that for you directly, and a warm introduction does it through a mutual.
You're not looking for a close friend. You're looking for a person who can say, honestly, how they know you, or how they know the friend vouching for you. A former colleague who's now at Canva is one example; a friend who introduces you to their old roommate on a product team there is another. Your own accounts can tell you who those people are, which beats trying to recall them.
Finding who you know at Canva, and who knows them
Your inbox and calendar. Anybody you've emailed or met with who is at Canva now is a direct route, and the relationship is already documented. What hides them is that memory doesn't sort people by where they went after you stopped working together, so they never come to mind.
LinkedIn's mutual connections. The Canva company page and every individual profile show who you're both connected to. It's useful once you have a particular name to check against.
Happenstance. Happenstance searches every account you connect, Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, plus the networks of the friends you add, and answers in plain English. Ask who you know at Canva and you get the people, how well you know each one, the account the tie came through, and for anyone a friend knows, the friend who can introduce you. Sidedoor starts from the job posting: paste the link and it finds who in your network can refer you there. Happenstance is free. The free plan is the whole product, with usage limits on chat and web searches beyond your network. Pro raises the limits: unlimited web searches and results, higher chat limits, and CSV export. The job-search version of all this, from first search to offer, is on Happenstance for job seekers.
The ask
One message, kept under a hundred words, that names the role and then says how you know each other and what you'd like them to do. If you're writing to a mutual rather than to someone at Canva, ask for the introduction and include a paragraph they can pass along without editing.
Subject: Referral to Canva
What Happenstance can see
Email is read as headers only. Message content and attachments never reach our servers. Yes. Your connections are searchable only by you, the friends you accept, and the groups you join, and sharing is always mutual. Your public profile shows a constellation of named people you know by default, which you can turn off anytime. We never share, sell, or use your data to train AI models. Happenstance is SOC 2 certified and DTI Trust Level 2; the full list of what is stored and for how long is on the security page.
Frequently asked questions
Is a referral or a warm introduction better for a job at Canva?
Either gets your application in front of a person rather than a queue, and that's the whole advantage. A referral means a Canva employee submits you through the company's own process; a warm introduction means a mutual vouches for you to someone at Canva, who may then refer you themselves, and you should accept whichever of the two the person you've reached is comfortable giving.
What if I don't know anyone at Canva?
You probably know someone who does. Second-degree paths produce most introductions, like a former colleague whose old teammate is at Canva or a friend whose college roommate works there. Happenstance searches your own accounts and your friends' networks, so "who do I know at Canva" includes the people one introduction away and the mutual who can make it.
How do I ask someone at Canva for a referral?
Give them the role and the posting link, remind them in one line how you know each other, and say what you'd like them to do, whether that's referring you or introducing you to the hiring manager. Keep it under a hundred words and make declining easy. If you're writing to a mutual rather than a Canva employee, ask for the introduction and include a paragraph they can forward without edits.
How does Happenstance find people at Canva?
Connect the accounts you already use, Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, and ask in plain English who you know at Canva. Every result shows how well you know the person and which account the tie came from, and results through friends show the mutual who can introduce you. Sidedoor does the same from a job posting you paste in. Happenstance is free, and Pro raises the limits.
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