Okay, I am going to vent a little. I am a recruiter. I work for a highly recognizable organization. I am well connected. I know people who know people. You know that, right? Of course you do! That is why you reached out to me. Is that right? Heck, I don’t know!!!
I have to tell you I receive probably at least 30 Linkedin invitations a week. That could seem like a small number to some, or a large number to others. I would venture to say that 80% of the people that reach out to me I have never heard of or don’t know! Even worse, you have not given me a REASON WHY you want to connect.
Let me give you some advice. STOP!! Please, for the love of God, STOP! Whatever advice you have been given, you aren’t listening closely enough!
Yes, knowing people is definitely the key to getting a job. Getting your resume in front of the right people is a key component in avoiding the “black hole”. That being said, if you don’t give me a reason of why you want to connect, I have absolutely NO desire to connect with you. No desire!
Tell me anything! Tell me you like my background. Tell me you like my blog. You can even tell me you are interested in a position within my organization. To send a blank invitation with no reason is like SPAM!
“I am trying to grow my network” doesn’t fly with me either. So, basically you are telling me that you really don’t care to get to know me. You just want to use me for a connection. Try a little harder, please!
This week I did an experiment. I have had 23 Linkedin invitations from people I don’t know. I sent back 23 e-mails asking each and every one of them WHY they wanted to connect. Do you know how many responded to my e-mail? Drum roll, please. Zero!! I was polite, and said I would be glad to get to know them. I asked them how they heard about me and why would they want to connect?
Another thing, just because I work at XYZ company, don’t assume I can help you with a specific role! When I worked at Dell, there were hundreds of recruiters. If you are going after a large organization, make sure you aren’t just connecting to connect.
Have purpose. Respect others’ time. Research roles, the organization, and the person with whom you are trying to connect. If you give me a reason to connect, I will almost 100% of the time connect with you. I am all about paying it forward.
Thank you for listening to my rant and I hope you take this advice to heart. It will help you!
Will,
I have similar problems. I wrote the follow post on connecting with strangers last year
http://careerpivot.com/2012/connecting-with-strangers-on-linkedin/
I used to write a nice note with my response asking them “have we met?”. Now I reply “how did you find me?”
I bet I get 30-40% of the people respond back. The rest go in the trash.
I have been told that when you click the ignore the invitation and respond that you either do not know them or mark it as Spam that LinkedIn tracks that. If someone gets enough of those they will be put in a penalty box and need to give an e-mail address with each invitation. I am not sure if that is true or folklore.
Marc,
I love your post. I frequently write “how did you find me?” also. When a blog post goes viral, I often get a blank invitation and then I respond with “how did you find me?” and they will mention my blog post. I will gladly accept. I have found though that when people want to connect with me to “expand their network”, I rarely get a response back. I am a recruiter. I want to know you. Tell me why you want to know me. You are correct about the “ignore” or “don’t know this person”. I typically ignore- but maybe should re-think that.
I have been using a standard reply for requests from people I don’t know who have requested a connection.
It acknowledges that I may have met them but don’t remember (had one of those this week, actually), and offers an opportunity for them to open a dialog with me to establish an actual connection before we establish a LinkedIn connection. I’m having lunch today with someone who took me up on the offer.
But these are the exceptions. More often the only ones who reply are the ones who are trying to sell me something (and following up is S.O.P. for a good salesperson). I too have found that most people just don’t reply.
Your rant is well founded.
Thanks Jim for responding. It is amazing isn’t it? Nothing more frustrating than someone trying to sell you something also. I know this topic has been brought up before, but it seems to be getting a little out of control lately.
Great post, Will! You did what I’ve been wanting to do. I’ve actually accepted requests and dropped them from my list 5 minutes later. They probably didn’t even notice.
Thanks Malia! Can you tell me what you have done? Is there something different that you could share? Love to hear how others respond to these invitations. Do you send a response or just ignore?
Brilliant. The idea of LI was a great idea to start out with but now it seems laborious. I appreciate when someone wants to connect with me, especially someone in the local area that may help me find an elusive purple squirrel but the, and I mean no offense, I really don’t know why I would want to connect with someone in Malaysia. Not that it is not a wonderful country but I have no idea what a connection would garner either of us without you at least letting me know why. End rant.
Thank you Derek for taking time to comment. Those of you who don’t know Derek, he is one of the most recognizable recruiters in the DC Metro area. I think your point is if it is mutually beneficial for us to connect, then by all means. Even if we don’t know one another directly- we may be able to help one another in the future. Thus the purpose of Linkedin. Not just to connect to connect. Not just to have your Linkedin connections higher. Again, thanks!
That is it exactly. I want connections to people that can both help me and I can help. I am connected with people all over the planet but I know them or was interested in what they had to offer or share. That being said why do you keep ignoring my LI requests Will….hehehehehe
Perfectly stated Derek. We both have connections all over the world. How can we help one another?
LinkedIn have historically been to blame for some of this right? I remember being encouraged to import my whole address book and then going through and ticking the names of all the people I wanted to connect with. No option to personalize the resulting invitations and that must have been a sizeable portion of all invitations sent via LinkedIn back in the day. I still get prompted to sync my other email account address books regularly, so unless they’ve changed something that may well explain things?
I 100% agree Tony. Thanks for responding! It is way too easy to add everybody from your address book to Linkedin. There are those job seekers though that have just graduated from college that send invitations to recruiters having absolutely no other reason to connect than to “pray” that they will help them find a job at your company. It is getting out of hand. At least your contacts may know you? Others, not so much.
Will- I was relieved to see your post. I was considering even adding messaging to my profile in the summary section- so that it would suggest users to write WHY we should connect/what alignments we share in the request. But rather than that – I do the same thing as you. “Thank you for the invite. How do we know each other?” This makes them think about why they want to connect and then I can vet out who is a good connection for me. Furthermore- I work with college students on career development and DRILL them so that they do not ask for a blind connection on LinkedIn. Great blog! Keep up the good work.
Thanks Julia! I guess we don’t want to come across abrasive that is why we don’t write “why should we connect” on our profile, but I 100% agree. Reading all of these comments just solidifies my belief that something is broken. Linkedin was once a great tool and it still is, but it is losing some of it’s shine that it once had. It is the “white pages” of business professionals, but people are abusing it and using it the wrong way which is frustrating. I don’t believe when it was built, the intentions were to make it what it is today.
Will,
First of all, thanks for connecting with me. Your posts are great. I am a recently retired Marine Corps veteran who is interested in branching out to begin a niche resume writing service that specializes in helping transitioning service members present their best selves to the civilian community. For many military members, their military “job” may be the only one they have ever had, so understanding what the civilian work force is looking for and translating their military garnered hard and soft skills is a challenge. Great blogs like yours give me added insight to aspects of the civilian workplace and hiring process. Since retiring, I have had the opportunity to work in staffing, so I am not the blind leading the blind here, but I pride myself on doing non-stop research and try to read all I can in the industry. I like your humor as well.
So, again, thanks for connecting, and keep the witty posts coming. -Jen
Thank You Jennifer,
Always love connecting with people and thanks for the kind words. Military to Civilian is a very difficult task for many. You have chosen wisely. I worked with the military extensively at Dell as their Federal Sales Recruiter. I know what you are saying. Congratulations on your recent retirement and I am looking forward to getting to know you and your endeavors in the near future!
Will
Hey Will!
Good stuff. This needs to be said. Sometimes I get unexplained requests too. As a business owner its a little different for me because by accepting the request usually that translates into a new client. But to your point, I would prefer they tell me in the connection invitation. And one more thing to consider, the mobile app interface can be confusing to use to send custom requests. I am guilty of sending a couple of generic requests myself.
Chris
Thanks Chris!
I appreciate you responding. I think to Tony Restell’s point -Linkedin is a lot to blame for this happening. Still, I know there are a number of individuals that just don’t know any better. How easy is it to “endorse” someone on Linkedin? Kind of crazy. They have made it that easy with connection requests also. People need to be educated on what they CAN do when sending an invitation. Thanks again. Love your blogs.
Will
I was amused by the “rant” and thought about my LinkedIn contacts so I looked them up. I have 11 recruiters in my base and all 11 reached out to me. 2 of them have followed up with actual dialogue, but the others just want to expand their contact base, perhaps to justify their paycheck?? I do not know, but I accepted their invitations because I thought if I ever needed a recruiter that it wouldn’t hurt to have them in my contact base. So I think this definitely is a two-way street of failed communication.
Hey Chris- thanks for reaching out! It definitely works 2 ways. I never send an invite without some sort of explanation unless I know the person personally. I usually reach out to connect when I have some sort of opportunity for a candidate that fits their skill set. The only other reason I would reach out would to be to talk to them about a future opportunity. Again- thanks!
Will, I agree with your post, and found myself nodding my head while reading. Another thing I have noticed is that some of those submitting requests reference specific positions via number, trumpet their experience, and then ask you for assistance in connecting with the appropriate recruiter. While they are clear about their intentions, it comes off as rude, as if you are merely a conduit or one’s personal recruiter. It would be nice for someone to chat me up first, get to know me, establish a genuine connection, rather than send a request to connect that is merely an application for employment.
Thanks Tonya! I worked at Dell, so I know exactly what you are saying. Just because you work at Dell doesn’t mean you fill every role. Have a great week! Will
Will (and other recruiting pros)-
I’m hijacking your post a bit, but I didn’t see any of your previous blogs that addresses this point and wanted your opinion, if you please.
Do recruiters place a value on LinkedInners that pay for a subscription?
(I know that Linked IN would love the cash, but when you as a recruiter are looking at contacts, do you think that it’s a net positive, net negative or do you not really consider if a candidate has paid LinkedIn to bump their profile)?
Do paid accounts show up in results list ahead of free accounts? I am happy to invest in my career and recognize the value of LI. My guess is that it would show that a candidate was seriously about getting a new position if they paid their dues and thus would be a net positive, but wanted to get your feedback… Thanks in advance. Feel free to email, post back, use as a topic for a blog, (or ignore it) depending on how much verbiage you think the question deserves.
I happen to know three people on the L.I. One in the Netherlands, One in the Los Angeles area, and one in the Desert (CA) area.
I know these people well, and these three are in business. But I’m well over the age to be in business, and am retired from the school district in my area. I’ve lived in the desert area for forty-three years and know many people, however, I don’t know what anyone would want from me.
thanks you
I like your writing style genuinely loving this site.