When I don’t accept your LinkedIn connection request, know it’s nothing personal.
It’s not because I don’t think you’re a quality professional.
It’s probably because I don’t know you and accepting diminishes my superpowers.
It’s like my kryptonite, except my superpowers are lame compared to Superman’s.
One superpower is helping people land dream jobs through referrals. LinkedIn is the ultimate rolodex and I’ve made so many connections that resulted in dream jobs. When a friend or client needs help, I can search my connections for a solid contact that will be a win-win when those people speak.
I try to only associate with high-integrity people who rock at what they do professionally and will be deeply gracious and respectful of any connections made.
My connections can search my network to find ideal people they’d like to speak with then message me requesting a connection. They give me a compelling template, I make an intro, and my network becomes stronger!
But it sucks when I have to tell someone I don’t know the person.
Or if I find someone I want to chat with and the mutual connection is someone I’ve never heard of, I’m not going to waste my time asking for a connection from someone I don’t know – they almost never even respond and the convo would start on a weak footing.
My rule on connecting is that requests definitely get the IGNORE button if we’ve never communicated before and aren’t scheduled to speak in the future.
If you’re using a bot to send a generic connection request that’s laughably bad, you might even get the dreaded “I don’t know (this person)” button!
I can be convinced, but you have to at least read my profile and act accordingly: “If you’d like to connect with me on LinkedIn, please included a brief note about how we know each other and why you’d like to connect. Otherwise, you’re welcome to follow on LinkedIn, Twitter (@thejobsauce), and our blog https://www.thejobsauce.com/blog/”
When I dilute my network for strangers, I hurt everyone who’s already in it. That’s not aligned with what I’m up to in life.
