Questions to Ask Before Accepting a Stranger on LinkedIn
Accept or reject? That is the dilemma. William Shakespeare, the great master of English letters, could never have imagined that these would now be society’s greatest problems. And, is that using a professional network properly can be more complicated than it seems.
Do I accept all the invitations I receive on LinkedIn? No, unless you want to have a very wide network and an inbox full of spam. But how then to decide who to accept and whom to ignore? Before making a hasty decision, ask yourself the following questions:
Do I know the person? Accept it as long as you have a certain professional relationship or friendship with it. If you tried it in the past, even if you do not have a relationship, value if it can contribute something to you as part of your network. New job offers? Do you share the interesting news? Do you work in a company that you would like to join?
How did you contact me? Rate more positively if someone has bothered to send you a personal message. Those who press the add button may only want to swell their contact list.
Who is connected? Depending on the configuration, you can know the contacts you have in common or your list of ‘friends.’ Do you know the CEO of the company in which you want to work? Do you have access to very prominent profiles? Perhaps, then, it is worth adding.
Do you have a profile picture? We do not recommend adding people who have not attached a photograph. Those professionals who have put the little effort in their image can also show a very negative profile. Apathetic professional? Disheartened Vague?
Where do you live? It can also help you decide your place of residence. If you do not want to do business or move to another country, why add foreign professionals? Unless, of course, they are respected personalities in their field.
Equally important is to know if it has published something recently, if it is active in the professional network or if it only looks for connections, but it does not contribute much. Do you have recommendations? In this case, it is surely a good professional that is worth knowing.
