LinkedIn

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Thu Apr 14, 2016 10:42 am

I'm sure a lot of you are on LinkedIn. I get requests from folks I don't know to join my network and I'm trying to figure out why people do that. So an odd question. If you get a request from someone you don't know, do you add them? I don't know these people professionally, so I'm not seeing the value.

RickyBeam · **Posted:** Thu Apr 14, 2016 11:06 am

In general no, I don't add them. In fact, I'm just as likely to report them and ban them. A lot of it is pure spam, and "e-penis". Honestly, who cares if your "circle" includes 27,000 "people".

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Thu Apr 14, 2016 12:30 pm

Generally speaking I get a lot of recruiters who are looking to link to me. I don't count it as "spam" per se, but they do want access to your network. I work with a few recruiting agencies and I tend to accept requests from recruiters from that those agencies, but not blind requests from recruiters I have no remote connection to. I also will end up getting requests from sales people (trying to sell me IT related stuff) who I have talked to. Again, I think they are looking to get access to your network. I pretty much never accept those.

I do get requests from people who I think are doing nothing more than trying to bump up their connection count. For those that I don't know I just decline.

Richard

Chris Halweg · **Posted:** Thu Apr 14, 2016 1:31 pm

I decline anyone I don't know in some capacity professionally (unless they are good friends) or students performed poorly in my class. I've had students that failed send requests. I'm guessing they just send it to everyone in their address book.

Now if I needed a job in the near future, I would probably be less strict and accept everything.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Thu Apr 14, 2016 3:36 pm

Chris Halweg wrote:

I'm guessing they just send it to everyone in their address book.

LinkedIn has a feature that if you allow it, it will extract the email address from your address book and blast out a LinkedIn request to EVERYONE. They try to get you to do that because it increases their user base. I refuse to let it do that and I have received a number of requests from people that I am positive came via that feature.

Semi-related story. I work for a company that creates HR software used in the recruiting and job application process. We have had clients that have had people who will apply to EVERY single job that a company has. So imagine large multi-national fortune 50 type of company. A single person applying to thousands of jobs. And they do it over and over again. They think it's a number game. That at some point it will work in their favor. In reality, those companies very well know who you are and pretty much effectively ban you from any type of consideration.... Because you are an idiot.

Richard

Erin Dressler · **Joined:** Wed Mar 23, 2011 2:03 pm **Posts:** 36

There are often times I don't add people I do know...

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Fri Apr 15, 2016 9:31 am

On LinkedIn I will if they are a 2nd connection (friend of a friend). All other social media, no way. I learned my lesson last year trying to be nice because I saw they were friends of friends, but that's how they trick you. Next thing you know, everyone's looking at each other wondering who actually knows the 'person', come to find out no one does.

LinkedIn seems a little less risky, and it's easy for the opportunist to justify accepting the connection in the event you inevitably meet the person. Still a crapshoot though.

JamesMilko · **Posted:** Fri Apr 15, 2016 11:49 am

I generally add anyone without a sales title unless I know the company they work for. My titles have drawn an unbelievable amount of unsolicited sales calls.

Chad Culbertson · **Posted:** Fri Apr 15, 2016 7:48 pm

It's usually recruiters and head hunters sending me requests. I've gotten a few cold calls to my desk number at work from people on linked in actually.

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