How to get a referral at Cohere
The route into Cohere that works is a warm introduction or an employee referral through someone who knows you both, and that person only appears if you search for them, which most applicants never do.
By Jerry Feng, Growth at Happenstance. Updated August 31, 2026.
The short version
The best way to get a job at Cohere is a referral or a warm introduction from an employee, reached through somebody already in your network. Most applicants have that mutual and don't know it: a former manager who's now at Cohere, or a grad-school friend whose old labmate works on a research team there. Finding them is the work, and it's a search over the accounts you already have. Then you ask the person with the strongest tie for a referral or an introduction, in a message that's short enough to say yes to.
Why the warm path beats the queue at Cohere
Cohere builds large language models for enterprises and hires across research, engineering, product, sales, and operations. The number of people who want in runs well past what its recruiters can read with care, and the applications that do get care are mostly the ones an employee has already attached themselves to. That attachment is a referral, or it's a warm introduction arriving by way of a mutual.
The mutual doesn't need to be someone you'd call a friend. They need to be someone who can say, without inventing anything, how they know you or how they know whoever is vouching for you. A former manager who moved to Cohere works, and so does a grad-school friend who connects you with their old labmate there. Instead of trying to remember who fits, ask your own accounts, since they already hold the record.
Finding who you know at Cohere, and who knows them
Your inbox and calendar. Anyone you've emailed or had a meeting with who now works at Cohere is a direct route, with the relationship already on record. The obstacle is that memory can't be searched for “people who joined Cohere after we lost touch”, so those names stay put.
LinkedIn's mutual connections. The Cohere company page and each person's profile show which connections you share, and that works well when you've got a specific name to check.
Happenstance. Happenstance searches all the accounts you connect, Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, and the networks of the friends you add, then answers in plain English. Ask who you know at Cohere and you'll get the people, how well you know each, which account the tie came from, and for anyone a friend knows, the friend who'll make the introduction. Sidedoor begins from the job posting instead: paste in the link and it finds who in your network can refer you for that role. 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 whole job-search version, first search to offer, is on Happenstance for job seekers.
The ask
Send a single message under a hundred words that names the role, says how you know each other, and says what you'd like them to do. When the person is a mutual rather than someone at Cohere, ask for the introduction and include a paragraph they can forward without any editing.
Subject: Referral to Cohere
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 Cohere?
Both get your application read by a person instead of a queue, and that's the whole of the advantage. A referral means a Cohere employee submits you through the company's own process; a warm introduction means a mutual vouches for you to someone at Cohere, who may then refer you themselves. Go with whichever the person you've reached is comfortable giving.
What if I don't know anyone at Cohere?
You likely know someone who does. Most introductions run through second-degree paths, such as a former manager whose old colleague is at Cohere or a friend whose college roommate works there. Happenstance searches your own accounts and your friends' networks, so "who do I know at Cohere" returns the people one introduction away and the mutual who can make it.
How do I ask someone at Cohere for a referral?
Name the role and link the posting, remind them in a line how you know each other, and say what you'd like them to do, whether that's a referral or an introduction to the hiring manager. Keep it under a hundred words and leave them an easy out. If you're writing to a mutual rather than a Cohere employee, ask for the introduction and include a paragraph they can forward unedited.
How does Happenstance find people at Cohere?
Connect the accounts you already use, Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, then ask in plain English who you know at Cohere. Every result shows how well you know the person and which account the tie came from, and anyone reached through a friend comes with 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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