Should You Ask For Introductions on Linked in?

This is a tough question, and the answer is—it depends on the relationship you have with the person. I have a statement at the bottom of my profile that lists my policy. It would be great if everyone did. Here’s mine:

• I don’t forward requests from people that I don’t know, unless they are to get back in touch.
• I don’t ask for introductions unless I know the people well.

I’m not trying to be an ass; there’s a reason I have that policy. If I recommend everyone who asks me, pretty soon my contacts not only won’t listen to my recommendations, they’ll ignore them.

Think About This

If you ask someone for a recommendation on a movie, or a book, or a restaurant, and they give you a bad one, will you ask them again? Let’s raise the stakes. Imagine you’ve flown into town to visit a new client and you want to take them to dinner but you’re not familiar with the area. You ask a friend for a recommendation on a great restaurant and it ends up being terrible. How pissed off are you going to be?

Now imagine it’s something even more important, like hiring for a job. If someone gives you a bad recommendation in that instance, you’ll really be pissed off. No doubt about it.

A Guide To Follow

The professional thing is not to ask unless you know, without question, that the person would be comfortable recommending you. If you have doubts, ask them—in a professional manner. This is an example of something that could work, but tailor it to suit your own needs.

• “Rose, I’ve been busy networking, and XYZ Company has a position open that interests me. It’s for a program manager. Do you know anyone at XYZ well enough to recommend me? I understand if you aren’t comfortable with it, but please let me know one way or the other.”

I would love it if contacts sent me requests like that. It makes it easy to respond professionally, and to do it without offending anyone. Remember, just because someone is a first-level connection doesn’t mean the person knows them well enough for a recommendation. I have about 15,000 first-level connections. I can tell you flat out there aren’t more than a few hundred I would recommend someone to.

I love Linked in. And I love networking. But I’m not risking my reputation by recommending people I haven’t checked out.

I have faced similar circumstances in the publishing world. I write books, both non-fiction career books, and mystery/suspense novels. Quite often, other authors ask me to review their books, and they expect me to give them a five-star rating. Some are quite upset when I give them less than that, or don’t review the book at all. The problem is that if everyone gave five-star reviews, how would the readers know what was any good? Readers use those reviews to decide whether or not to purchase a book. It’s not fair to them to give anything less than an honest review. The same goes for Linked in.

What Does That Mean?

Does it mean I won’t help you? Of course not. I’ll do anything I can to help anyone. I just won’t recommend you unless I know you.

It means that unless we’ve done business or I’ve done references on you, or at the very least interviewed you, I probably won’t recommend you. I would hope that you would not only understand that position, but take a similar stance yourself. Linked in will be a far better place if we all did the same.

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Tags: careers, linked in, networking