Red Hat referral blocked because I already applied – what should I do? HELP ASAP

Hi everyone,

I recently applied for a role at Red Hat (Software Engineer Intern, R-050054) and reached out to an alum from my college who works in Talent Acquisition to see if they could refer me internally.

When they tried, the system gave this error:
"This person has already applied to one or more of these positions, and they cannot be referred to a position they have already applied to."

I’m confused about the best next step:

• Should I withdraw my application and try to get the referral internally?
• Or keep my application active and see if the alum can still help somehow?

I really want to maximize my chances without losing my current application. Any advice or experiences with Red Hat’s referral system would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks in advance!