Linkedin Requests from Strangers?

What do you do with LinkedIn requests from people you haven’t met or don’t know? How do you handle them? Here’s what I do and a template you can use to make your Linkedin life easier. Further below and later in the video I discuss practical tips to build relationships on Linkedin too. https://youtu.be/zsFZwA7\_-II Situation 1: You don’t know them and… they have an interesting profile I send something along the lines of “thanks for sending a connection request I usually make sure I know everyone on my Linkedin and have met most of my connections. I don’t think we’ve met, though I had a read of your profile and it sounds like you’re doing interesting work. Is there something in particular that prompted you to connect?” Situation 2: You don’t know them but… their profile doesn’t have anything that overlaps with my interests/work areas - I don’t accept. I know some people who accept everyone because they have a business to build or see it as growing their network, that’s fine. But for me, if I’m connected with someone I like to be able to vouch for the person in some way or another. Situation 3: You know them but you have had a negative experience with the person. I don’t accept. Why?

your Linkedin connections say something about you. Occasionally when someone adds me I can immediately see mutual connections and without even looking at their profile take a pretty accurate guess as to which one of my communities they belong to.
being mindful of who is in my community.

If you’re starting out here are some practical tips that aren’t that obvious

Show your personality, not just your work life.
Show your volunteer roles and things you care about
Show me don’t tell, ie . If you say you’re passionate about something show me what you’ve done about it.
You may have seen a meme that goes a little like this “I need a job to get experience. and experience to get a job.” There are tonnes of ways to get the experience that doesn’t include a traditional job. Here are some
- “great communicator” instead link out to your blog or other assets that demonstrate your skill.
- If you say you’re a “designer” link out to designs you’ve done for Not-for-profits or your own side project
- If you say you’re good at marketing and happen to have been an executive member of a university club OR helped out a not-for-profit: Don’t just say you served in X volunteer role say “I increased membership from XYZ to XYZ by doing [insert innovative strategy]. Or I recruited and led a team of 3-5 volunteers. Or I came up with X event idea and executed it. Or I secured $$ in sponsorship by pitching to companies.
How do you build relationships on Linkedin - I go into further detail in the video about how to reach out and connect with people.

A little useful hack if you’re overwhelmed If Linkedin is getting a little wild for you (at one stage I had 800+ connection requests pending), you can change your connect button to follow. Some people simply connect because they like your posts and content - that’s great. Hope those are useful I go into more detail in the video so if you want to learn have a watch over at youtube or above. You can post your profile in the youtube comments section and I’ll give personalised feedback to a few people.

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