You probably get deluged by Linkedin invites much more than I do. But whatever little I get is enough to make me tear my hair from my head. Well, if I had anything left, that is. Every Saturday I sit down and go through the invites. For each one of them, I look at the face and try to figure out if I know this person….. have met before…. should be knowing at all and so on. Many times I try to read their profiles – which often confuses me more than helps me.

What I cannot understand is an answer to a simple question – “Why are you trying to connect with me?”.

“I would like to connect” makes no more sense than all those emails in my inbox from people wanting a phone call – only 15 minutes – to save us so much money that all our employees put together could not somehow think about. Or for that matter all those Nigerian princes. At least the Nigerian princes are very clear what they are seeking.

So, here is a tip – why not just drop a line or two – maybe a small paragraph on who you are and why are you interested in a connection with somebody. And care about it. It is okay to say “I was wondering if you could help me with my job search” or “I was wondering if you had a job in your company” or “Hey, we are in the same field. Just wanted to stay in touch with you” or “I have nothing to ask but I felt with your experience you can help me some day. This is who I am…. Would you mind staying connected?”.

People will help you if they can. People want to accept you in their fold. But people also relate to a little personal touch than those standard mindless Linkedin provided default text that one might be tempted to short cut thru…

Of course, if you know the person for quite some time or is your childhood friend or you just had dinner with that person the previous night, that courtesy would be superfluous.