AI-Assisted Networking: Using Claude Code to Help a Friend Find a Job

I connected with a friend yesterday about his job search. He’s a scientist with 20+ years of experience leading drug development teams, recently laid off because his company is winding down. Tough market right now. Biotech capital has gotten scared and shifted toward late-stage assets, which means a lot of very qualified people are looking.

While we were on the Zoom, I pulled up Claude Code and had it use Chrome DevTools MCP to browse through my LinkedIn connections with me logged in, looking for first-degree contacts in his field. It scrolled through my network the same way I would: clicking into profiles, checking companies…but a lot faster than I can.

By the end of a 22-minute call, it had found about a dozen people I know personally who work at companies doing relevant work, several of which have open positions that fit his background. I sent him the list after the call.

Here’s the part that makes this actually work: I didn’t just send him a list of names. For each person, I asked him to write me one email with a specific subject line (“Intro to [Name] at [Company]”), a one-page PDF resume attached, and two short paragraphs (not a separate cover letter) explaining why he’s excited about that specific company and why he’d be a good fit for a specific role.

When those emails come in, I forward each one to the person with a short personal note from me. If I’m reaching a founder or CEO, they tend to forward it to the relevant hiring manager. It’s a double-forward: my friend writes the pitch, I add the trust, the recipient routes it internally.

Cold outreach to strangers converts at maybe 1%. Warm intros from someone who actually knows both people? In my experience, about 30%. That’s the difference between mass-applying on job boards and getting a real conversation.

I’ll be honest. LinkedIn’s User Agreement probably wasn’t written with this in mind. Section 8.2.13 prohibits using “bots or other unauthorized automated methods to access the Services.” I wasn’t downloading contacts or sending automated messages or doing anything to anyone else’s account. I was searching my own connections to help a friend, the same way I’d do manually, just faster.

LinkedIn: I’d love it if you built this as a real feature. You have my network graph. You have the job postings. Let me say “who in my network is relevant for this person’s job search” and get a useful answer back. The people who’d use this most are the ones who already make the most introductions, and right now we’re limited by how many we can hold in our heads at once.

Originally posted on LinkedIn.