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My company is hiring for an internship and I have friend who has the qualifications and is interested in the job. I was wondering if I could give his documents to HR myself, and sell him a little bit. I don't know if that's weird or could be seen as "cheating". The normal way to apply is to send the documents online, but I figured if I give them the documents in person he'd have a higher chance of being on top of the stack.

Should I tell them right away that the guy is my friend, or should I be more vague and just tell them I've worked with him before and it went well (which is not a lie)?

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    Many companies like referrals of this nature. I know several that actually have referral bonuses for referred employees who are hired and stay on for a certain amount of time.
    – Joel Etherton
    Feb 26, 2015 at 15:45

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That is in no way cheating. Most companies encourage it.

You don't have to identify him as your friend. Just tell the manager of the department that is hiring that you have someone you would like to refer for the position, and ask who you should speak with in HR.

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    +1 - better than going to HR is going to the hiring manager. He/she's the one who needs convincing... HR is just there to protect the company by checking out anyone the hiring manager wants to hire, and often by filtering out candidates before they get to the hiring manager.
    – HopelessN00b
    Feb 26, 2015 at 16:29
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In most cases, it is best to be up-front about it. I would go to them and say something along the lines of "One of my friends is looking for an internship and I think he would be a good fit for our company, would you like me to give you his documentation?"

That way, you give them the chance to decide how they want to handle things. If the company prefers to be completely unbiased, they might tell you not to give them the details and to have your friend apply normally, but most places I know of will take extra interest in recruiting a friend of an existing employee since. The reasoning is usually that an existing employee's friend is less of an unknown quantity than a completely fresh hire and friends that get to work together are more likely to stay at the company and tend to work well together.

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