How to get a referral at ElevenLabs
The reliable way into ElevenLabs is an employee referral or a warm introduction through someone who knows both of you, and it takes a search that most applicants never think to run.
By Jerry Feng, Growth at Happenstance. Updated August 31, 2026.
The short version
The surest way into a job at ElevenLabs is a referral or a warm introduction from someone who works there, reached through a person you already know. Most applicants have that mutual and don't realize it, whether it's an old hackathon teammate who joined ElevenLabs or a friend whose former coworker is on the hiring team. Locating them is the real task, and it's a search you can run across accounts you already own. Ask whoever has the strongest tie for an introduction or a referral, and keep the message short enough that saying yes costs them nothing.
Why the warm path beats the queue at ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs builds AI voice and audio models and hires across research, engineering, product, sales and go-to-market. A company people are excited about draws far more applications than its team can read with any care, so the ones that get a proper look tend to be those an employee has already attached a name to. That's what a referral or a warm introduction does, and it happens before anyone has scanned your resume.
It doesn't take a close friend on the inside. It takes someone who can describe, truthfully, how they know you or how they know the person speaking up for you. An old hackathon teammate who landed at ElevenLabs counts, and so does a friend who introduces you to their former coworker there. Sorting out who those people are is a question your own accounts can answer if you ask them.
Finding who you know at ElevenLabs, and who knows them
Your inbox and calendar. Whoever you've emailed or met with who now works at ElevenLabs is a direct route, and the relationship is already on the record. The problem is that memory has no filter for “people who joined ElevenLabs after we lost touch”, so those names stay out of sight.
LinkedIn's mutual connections. Both the company page and each individual profile show who you're jointly connected to, and that works well once you've got a particular name to look up.
Happenstance. Happenstance searches every account you connect, Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, together with the networks of friends you've added. Ask it in plain English who you know at ElevenLabs and you'll get the people, how well you know each one, which account the tie came from, and for anyone a friend knows, the friend who can introduce you. Sidedoor works from the posting instead: 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 full job-search version, from the first search to the offer, is on Happenstance for job seekers.
The ask
One message, under a hundred words, that names the role and then explains 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 ElevenLabs, ask for the introduction and include a paragraph they can pass along without editing.
Subject: Referral to ElevenLabs
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 ElevenLabs?
Both put your application in front of a person rather than a queue, and that's the advantage that matters. A referral means an ElevenLabs employee submits you through the company's process; a warm introduction means a mutual vouches for you to someone at ElevenLabs, who may then refer you. Go with whichever the person you've reached is comfortable offering.
What if I don't know anyone at ElevenLabs?
There's a good chance you know someone who does. Second-degree paths produce most introductions, whether it's a hackathon teammate whose cofounder joined ElevenLabs or a friend whose former coworker works there now. Happenstance searches your own accounts and your friends' networks, so asking who you know at ElevenLabs brings back the people one introduction away and the mutual who can connect you.
How do I ask someone at ElevenLabs for a referral?
Name the role and link the posting, then remind them in one line how you know each other and say what you're asking for, whether that's a referral or an introduction to whoever owns the role. Keep the message under a hundred words and make declining easy. If the person is a mutual instead of an ElevenLabs employee, ask for the introduction and include a paragraph they can forward unedited.
How does Happenstance find people at ElevenLabs?
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 ElevenLabs. Each 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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