When you see connection requests coming through on LinkedIn, it can be difficult to decide whether to approve or ignore if you don’t know that person.
The question I ask myself is ‘what’s the worst that can happen by connecting’?
For the most part, the worst thing that can happen is they start spamming you with messages on LinkedIn. In which case, I would remove the connection.
The best case is that they want to connect as they wish to work with me. If I hadn’t connected to people I don’t know, I would have lost thousands of pounds of business this year alone! As more and more people are using the LinkedIn app, which doesn’t allow you to send a personalised message when connecting, it can be difficult to know why that person wants to connect.
Take a look at their profile and figure out if they are only getting in touch as they want to sell to you or they want to recruit you.
If you think neither of these apply, I would go ahead and connect if you think some opportunity could come from the connection.
Plus, the more 1st connections you have, the more 2nd connections you have, which makes you easier to find when people are running searches.
So, have a think before you hit ignore! Who knows what may come of that connection!
