Some job seekers believe that in order to be successful on LinkedIn, they need 500+ connections. This is a huge misconception about connections and what they do for you.
For Job Seekers
What’s important is that you are connected to the people you should be connected to, and reaching out to managers (not asking to connect) in your field about who you are and what you can do for them.
Who Needs Lots of Connections?
Some professions (like recruiters) need a large number of connections in order to operate effectively.
When you are on LinkedIn, you are visible to all recruiters when they search for keywords. So, if you are trying to get noticed by recruiters (who are searching for people to fill jobs) on LinkedIn, it’s not really the connections that do it—it’s your profile.
What Matters for You on LinkedIn
In order to be viable on LinkedIn, you only need a few relevant connections and a picture (so you don’t look like a bot—a fake profile). Pictures are very important because LinkedIn is a networking site. In networking, that feeling of connecting with another person is important—that’s why people need to see your smiling face.
If you ask strangers to connect and they don’t know you, they’ll probably click “I don’t know this person.” If that happens enough times, you could get banned from LinkedIn. This is also why you don’t want to necessarily ask hiring managers to connect with you.
It’s better to start off that relationship with a message or direct email (there is a specific message for this in the Hidden Jobs Finder that asks for their email address). You don’t need to be connected to these people on LinkedIn. You just need to be able to communicate with them.
If you can communicate with them, you can send them your resume to let them know who you are and what you can do for their company. Thousands of job seekers have gotten interviews this way—even if they had already applied to the company (through HR) and been ignored.
If you want to be successful on LinkedIn and contact hiring managers directly to get more interviews, my advice is:
- Get my LinkedIn Profile Tutorial (whether you already have a profile or not) to find out how to refine each part of your profile to attract attention from recruiters and hiring managers
- Get my Hidden Jobs Finder to learn how to find specific hiring managers (and all those hidden jobs) and what to say to them (it has specific word-for-word messages) to get an interview
(This question came from a Total Access Coaching club call and I wanted to share it with you.)