Ignore completely. I never got a job through referral in 25 years of working in this industry. The only times I almost got a job like that, the pay was horrible

Ignore completely. I never got a job through referral in 25 years of working in this industry. The only times I almost got a job like that, the pay was horrible. Sure, that could have helped but I never had trouble going through the HR funnel, so my experience might not be good advice.