Things You Need to Know Before Adding New Connections On LinkedIn
ByLinkedIn is one of my favourite social networking sites. It is full of business professionals who use the site for business purposes. No one is going to send me a zombie invitation and I don’t have to worry about stumbling upon semi-pornographic photos when I check out someone’s profile.
Building your network on LinkedIn is an essential part of using the site. However, there are several written and unwritten rules that govern sending invitations to connect on LinkedIn. If you don’t know these rules beforehand you can get yourself into trouble.
Your LinkedIn Invitations Are A Limited Resource
The first thing you need to know is there is a limit on the number of invitations you can send. Each person gets 3000 invitations for their lifetime on LinkedIn. Once you use them up, that’s it. Forever.
Now, if you’re sitting with only a few dozen or even a few hundred connections, this might not seem like a problem. However, if you plan to use LinkedIn for the long term, you might want to be careful about how many you use up.
One of the ways I protect this resource is to stop sending invitations to join LinkedIn to people who are not on the site already. I don’t want to use up this limited resource on people who are not interested. If I want to invite someone who is off line, I send them a regular email with the link to my LinkedIn profile, and an explanation about how to join.
Who Can You Invite to Connect?
When you invite someone to connect on LinkedIn you are asked you how you know this person. This is part of LinkedIn’s emphasis on trust. They want you to trust the site and trust your network. They don’t want you receiving tons of mail and invitations you don’t want.
As a result, you can only invite people to connect if you both have the same organization as part of your profiles – an employer, business, group or association or educational institution.
If you don’t have some commonality in your profiles you’ll be asked to provide this person’s email address as proof that you actually know each other. If you choose “I don’t know this person,” you won’t be allowed to send an invitation.
This is why having a complete profile is important. The more previous employers you include in your profile, the more you’ll be able to add people from your past, even if you don’t have their current contact information.
Inviting the Wrong People Can Get Your LinkedIn Account Frozen
When you receive an invitation to connect you are given three choices: accept, archive or “I don’t know this person.” If too many people click “I don’t know” in response to your invitations, LinkedIn will freeze your account. Then you’ll need to wait until a live person can look at what you’re doing. You’ll get a warning to cease & desist. If your account gets frozen too many times you may actually get kicked off the site.
Clearly if you’re using LinkedIn extensively for networking and promoting your business, you need to play by the rules so you don’t lose this valuable resource.
How to Know if It’s Safe to Invite Someone
On LinkedIn, most people are either open networkers or selective connectors. If someone is an open networker, feel free to send them an invitation to connect, even if you don’t know each other.
To find out if someone is an open networker, check out their profile. They’ll probably belong to an open networking group such as LIONs or TopLinked. They may also include their email address and an open invitation to connect after their name or somewhere in their profile. If they are an open networker you don’t have to worry about them clicking “I don’t know” on your invitation.
If the person you’re trying to connect with is not an open networker, you need to develop a relationship before sending the invitation. You can do this by answering one of their questions, joining a LinkedIn group they belong to and joining their discussion, sending them a LinkedIn “In-mail” or connecting with them outside of LinkedIn.
You can also ask someone in your network for an introduction, if they are connected to the person you wish to meet. Just be aware that not everyone passes along introductions so you might have to try more than once.
Building your LinkedIn network of connections is an essential part of using the site for promoting your business. But if you do it carefully, you’ll find some valuable connections you wouldn’t find anywhere else.
Andrea J. Stenberg
Have you “met” someone on LinkedIn who has become an important customer, suppliers or resource? Leave a comment and tell us how you met and how your new relationship has benefitted your business.
Hi Andrea,
Let me add a bit of etiquette from the invitation-receiver’s side. If you get an invite that you don’t want to accept, don’t say “Do not know” unless you suspect it’s a spam invitation – just archive it. That way the person sending it can simply withdraw it at some point without penalty. I’ve had two people respond to my invitations with DNK, and both of them actually did know me – at least well enough to know it was a friendly invite.
I’ve been asked to endorse people/write recommendations for people on Linkedin. I know them but not well enough to feel comfortable writing a recommendation.
How do I politely say no?
Does asking for recommendations on Linkedin “count” as an invite?
Also, how should someone politely ask for recommendations? (obviously not by using the default request)
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Q: How do you gracefully decline invites from past co-workers who you feel either a.) Don’t have your best interests at heart and are only connecting to you to get your contacts or b.) Feel like may be a negative connector – meaning, they are immature, not team players, etc?
I mean, I feel bad rejecting these people so I just leave the invite unmarked. It leaves for an awkward situation incase I see them again. Should I tell them the truth on why not accepting the invite?
Thanks.
Irene,
Irene,
That’s a delicate situation. I know I don’t like confrontation myself and can feel for your dilemma. Here are my thoughts.
Don’t feel like you must accept every invitation. I don’t.
Of course, if the invitation is from someone you know in the real world it can be trickier. First I’d consider how likely are you to run into each other? If it’s not often, feel free to archive.
The second thing to consider is how likely is it they’ll notice you didn’t accept. Are they active on LinkedIn or do they just have a few connections and don’t log in very often? Do they collect a massive list of random names or are they more selective?
Third, consider what harm will they do if you accept? What harm will they do if you decline? I know one woman who has a former colleague who only gets in touch when he’s looking for work. Annoying yes, but when he’s actively job searching he behaves professionally so she stays connected. If someone is likely to spam your connections, say something inappropriate or bad mouth you, don’t accept them.
Forth, how did they invite you? Was the invitation professional or at least personalized to acknowledge your relationship or did they just send the default invite? I’ve started archiving the default invites. If someone can’t be bothered to personalize the invitation, I don’t want to connect.
Fifth, did they send the invitation via LinkedIn because they’d never dare phone you for referrals or connections? If you never had a good working relationship and they know it, they might not ask you in person. Archive them.
Finally, what are your usual criteria for accepting invitations? If you are an open networker who accepts any and all invitations it might be harder to decline than if you have very specific criteria. However, if you have a connection policy (even if it’s only in your head) and they don’t fit, archive away.
How to respond if they ask why you declined is trickier. Whatever your response, it’s probably a good idea to have your answer prepared ahead of time.
You could lie: “What invitation?” However, I think it’s bad Karma to lie so that wouldn’t be my first choice.
If they sent a default invitation try, “I have a policy of archiving anyone who sends a default invitation. Perhaps your invitation fit that bill.” Of course, you run the risk of them sending a new, personalized invitation and you’re back at square one.
If they don’t fit your connection policy, use that. “I use LinkedIn for W. Therefore, I have a policy of only accepting invitations from people who are X, Y and Z.”
Finally, there’s always the direct approach. “I prefer to network with people who give as much as they receive and who are professional and team players. You just don’t fit the bill.”
Hope this helps.
Andrea
Hi Andrea,
How should I ask someone to join my network if they are a recruiter and I have recently submitted my resume and cover letter to them? I was told never to use the default and I think that is good advice. Do you have any suggestions?
Brittany,
Many recruiters are open networkers and happily connect with many people, so I’d take a look at their profile. If the recruiter is a member of Top Linked, or a LION (LinkedIn Open Networker) or another open networking group, send him or her an invitation. If not, look over the profile. Is the recruiter connected to 100s or even thousands of people? He or she may be an open networker.
Good luck with your job search.
Where do you do you go to check how many invitations you have sent or that you might have left? Loved your article!
I never would have thought how much stuff there was on this! Thank you for making it all simple to take in
Looking at that I thought it was very informative. I value you spending some time and effort to position this submit alongside. All over again I find me personally ponying up excessively long equally searching and also creating comments. But so what, ?t had been nonetheless advantageous!
Do you know that if you upgrade to a paid membership on LinkedIn can you get off their blacklist?
Also, I have read on some posts that the maximum number of invites is 3000, period! – does that include those you sent from email addresses you upload in CSV format or is it just for those that LinkedIn suggests on “People You May Know”?
Thahks
The 3,000 limit is not an absolute cap. This is a myth. What is true is that you will have to contact LinkedIn support and ask them to give you additional invites.
If someone invites me to connect on their linkedin page and I accept, does that necessarily mean that they are put on mine?