To Link or Not to Link, That…

… is really a decision that gets made on an individual basis, if I’m being honest.

Having ranted about What LinkedIn Is Not For, let’s talk about what LinkedIn *is* for, at least as I understand it:

• To create connections between yourself and people you have worked with,
• To create (potentially) connections between yourself and people you have worked withs’ connections, to expand your network (e.g., in order to reconnoiter on employment prospects, places of work, specific candidates, etc.),
• To identify potential candidates for your open role (if you’re a recruiter or hiring manager),
• To share your work/discipline achievements with your peers and potential recruiters/hiring managers,
• To share news/media/thought leadership/anecdotes around your area of occupation or expertise,
• To find candidates or indicate interest in candidacy for nonprofit or volunteer positions (board or otherwise),
• To vet skills and/or educational achievements

It also gets used by consultants and service providers to find potential provide-ees, which I find questionable, but I’d totally roll with (if there were an option to opt out, see previous). With that, here’s my criteria for linkage.

I will absolutely link you, if:

• We worked together, either in the same group or in the same company on a given project or product
• We served board or volunteer time together (yes even PTSA)
• You have provided goods/services in a professional capacity (the very best traffic lawyer in Washington is one of my links, you’re welcome)

I will probably link you, if:

• You reach out and identify how we are linked (“I see you worked with Princess Buttercup, I did too back before she started working at Dread Pirate, Inc.”) AND you identify how a link would help either or both of us (“I’m looking to transition into program management from engineering; do you have time to talk about your experience?”/”I see there’s an open role in your organization that I think would be a perfect fit for me…”)

I am less likely to link you, if:

• You reach out and do not identify how we are linked and/or aren’t really specific about why we should be linked (e.g., I can see from the tooling that you’re linked to Inigo Montoya, and I remember working with Inigo Montoya on that project for Vizzini, so I can infer that that’s how you found me; but I’m not really sure if you’re just clicking “link” to have a bigger network count or because you want something from me or what.)

I will absolutely not link you, if:

• You are “cold mailing” me out of nowhere (as part of your mail you don’t share how you found me/why you think the linkage is worthwhile),
• You are using InMail to sell me stuff, and want to link me so you can sell my links stuff,
• You are one of those aforementioned service providers with whom I haven’t actually transacted any business,
• You are just trying to expand your network via searching for keywords/key organizations and clicking “link all”

I will *actively unlink* you, if:

• You do things that make me question your judgement, either on LinkedIn or at work. This includes conspiracy theories, derogatory comments about others, grind shaming, self-care shaming, or just generally being a d*ck.