LinkedIn Etiquette

Everyone in the working world has heard of LinkedIn.  And everyone should have an account.  Seriously.  If you don't have one, stop reading this and go there now.  Start your account, it's free, and then come back and keep reading.  I'm not kidding.  If you don't have a LinkedIn account it'll be nearly impossible to find a job today.  

LinkedIn: Why you should have an account

It's not just that it's a great resource to look for jobs and find people in your network who can help you but it's the first place a hiring manager is likely to look for a potential job candidate.  And you want them to find you.  Recently I had a client tell me the resume they submitted for a job was turned down because they didn't have a LinkedIn account.  The hiring manager told them to go make an account and apply again.  Which is why they came to us.  If you're going to have an account, make sure it looks outstanding.  If your account looks great, so do you.

So you have your account and you'd like to go about growing your network.  Or maybe you've found someone at a company you'd like to work for and would like to talk to them.  How do you go about it?

Fun Fact: Dragons only eat rude people.  Politeness saves lives.

When you hit the connect button a pre-populated request pops up.  Now, you have the option of taking about 10 seconds to delete that and personalize it or you can just hit send.  Guess which one you should do?  Yeah, the one that takes a little extra time.  It's always the option that takes more time.  That's just life.  Don't fight.  Just roll with it and take a few seconds more and personalize that response.  

Sending the pre-populated response makes you look, at best, lazy and at worst, disinterested in the other person.  Writing your own request shows more respect and consideration for that person and their time. Which also greatly increases your probability of a positive response.  

It's pretty easy, too.  In fact, you can write your own request and use the same one for everyone you want to connect with.  You know, with a few changes for each one.  Like the name.  Seriously.  Don't forget to change the name.

Try something like this:  "Dear/Hi Person I'd like to connect with (use their name, don't say this)

I'd appreciate connecting with you.  (Introduce yourself) We worked together at/we're members of the same LinkedIn group (name it)/you work for the company I'm interested in.  I enjoyed working with you/the articles/comments you post to our group/would like to learn more about the company you work for.
                                         Thank you for your time.
                                          Your name 

See how easy that is?  And completly customizable for anyone you want to connect with.  Now you look thoughtful and considerate.  It looks like you actually care about connecting with this person and best of all, you don't look lazy.  Isn't that better?