Please add me to your network….really? Tips to get me & others to connect..

I want to get peoples take on this, I try very hard to limit my LinkedIn connections to only people I could pick up the phone to and ask a question. That way if you did really need an introduction to one of my connections I could provide that service for you, should I so choose. I understand LinkedIn’s philosophy of building your network especially so you can find others but I rely on groups I join to have that effect for search purposes. I also spend a lot of money per month having the best LinkedIn account money can buy so I can access and contact the profiles of others should I desire to.

As I am sure happens to most of you, your news feed becomes to big to really glean information from it without spending too much time scrolling through it so why would I accept LinkedIn requests from people I don’t know, to be honest I often decline them. So if you really think I can add value to your network here are a few tips to encourage me to accept!

1) Don’t just send the message – “I would like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” – this tells me you are lazy as you could not be bothered to say why. If you read give and take by @adammgrant you will see you are a taker and should be more of a giver!

2) Don’t say we are friend if we are not – tells me your just milking the system

3) Tell me how you came across me, why you think I would be a good person to know as it can work both ways, the recruiter in me will also go hummm maybe there is a role for you….I also like to know how people find me its always good to be visible in our line of work.

4) Tell me why it would be good to know you, do you do something amazing are you really interesting, can you grow a money tree? I know I am being sarcastic here, but really I do love engaging with interesting people. People who are challenging the norm doing great work or leaders in their field will always get an acceptance from me as these are people I will engage with.

5) Be real – if all you think I can do is find you a job in paradise then say just that I respect honesty more thank anything else so if you open with “Hi Chris we don’t know each other but I really want to pay no tax and live in the sun could you point me in the right direction…” I am probably likely to help even if its only providing an introduction or giving you some advice. So be real !

Happy to hear other peoples take on this and how you actually use LinkedIn to help! And happy 4^th July this week to all our US friends !

Comment by David Hall on July 3, 2013 at 7:59am: "As I am sure happens to most of you, your news feed becomes to big to really glean information from it without spending too much time scrolling through it so why would I accept LinkedIn requests from people I don’t know"

If that's your principal motivation then there's two quite handy ways of dealing with it other than the one you've gone with.

1. In your newsfeed hover over the top right of an update from a less relevant connection and choose "Hide." There updates will disappear from your feed forever.

2. Use LinkedIn Signal. I use it all the time and have a library of saved Signal filters which allows me to drill down to the information that interest me in a single click.

There are other very good reasons to go with your strategy but if the above is really what's dictating your choices then I commend those two routines to you.

Comment by Chris Bailey on July 3, 2013 at 10:08am: Hi David Thanks for the tips I was not aware of LinkedIn Signal (I know for someone who uses LinkedIn every day this is terrible) but it certainly looks very useful. My main motivation is to get past the lethargy individuals employ when reaching out and to ask if others simply say yes to all requests or does vetting take place?

Comment by David Hall on July 3, 2013 at 10:24am: Having bigged up "Signal" I have to report it's been acting up on me today, typical, but normally it's a superb, but rather hidden tool (you need to append "signal" to the root domain to even get there). Chris I'm relatively liberal with regards to this but I do have my own criteria, I don't connect with everyone. That said I have the good manners to never hit IDK :-)

Comment by Chris Bailey on July 3, 2013 at 5:20pm: LOl my signal has gone down! but it was good whilst it lasted!

Comment by David Hall on July 3, 2013 at 5:26pm: Well it's been very buggy on me too lately. Which is a pain, it's something hardly anyone uses but for which I've discovered plenty of uses. I use the hell out of the saved search feature but today only a couple of them are working for me. In fact at one point they were all broken. I hope it will be resolved soon but the problem is that with so few people using it they probably feel comfortable not prioritising it.

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