Building a Solid Pool of Connections on LinkedIn

LinkedIn ’s ultimate purpose is to help you build connections and network for opportunities that will build on your career, like employment and partnership. However, you don’t have to grow your connections with anyone just for the sake of the numbers. It’s more important to grow and build a solid pool of connections. This creates a stepping stone for building what I call "strong-tie connections" --where the magic really happens. Your pool of connections comprises the people you are connected with on LinkedIn. A "strong-tie connection," in contrast, is a connection that builds on a solid personal brand, credibility, trust, and friendship with a specific connection (from one's pool of connections) that could lead to potential opportunities for both parties.

Building a solid pool of connections exposes one to several opportunities. The higher the quality connections you have, the higher your chances of landing a job or finding opportunities like partnerships or even speaking opportunities! Building strong-tie connections and a good reputation increase your chances of being recommended for a job. As Ana Djurovic said, "employee referral statistics are climbing ever upward as companies continue to rely on recommendations for sourcing top talent. Finding the right person to hire is always tricky and challenging, and recruiting by referral is often a good solution because of its ability to yield competent professionals... 82% of employers placed referrals above other options." With this being said, I hope you will leverage the power of building strong-tie connections on #LinkedIn with the tips I will be sharing.

First things first: before you attempt to build a solid pool of connections, make sure your LinkedIn profile stands out enough to be noticed. To begin with, update your headline, education, experience, and at least your #volunteer experience. Next, ask for skills endorsements and recommendations from your connections (mostly from your school leaders, clients, work colleagues, collaborators, and others you have strong-tie connections with). It is instructive to know that people (especially those in high ranks) accept connection requests that could be a potential benefit to them as well.

Building connections should be a win-win #opportunity . You must make sure you look valuable to those who receive your connection requests. Earlier, we noted the importance of updating your profile before attempting to build solid connections. Make your profile stand out; show who you are and what you’re good at. Let them know how passionate you are about your industry through your profile details, especially in your profile headline since it appears below your name and photo almost everywhere. Your profile headline alone is enough to help someone decide whether or not to view your profile or whether or not to accept your connection request. When they see that you could add value to them, or at least if they could get a fair idea of your background, they would always want to connect. If you don't have work experience, you should at least have volunteer experience.?

According to LinkedIn, 40% of recruiters value volunteer experience as work experience. We can always create volunteer opportunities for ourselves. Relevant experiences don't always have to be formal. I got connected with the founder and CEO of one nonprofit called Kisswa Minds Organisation (KisswaMinds.org ) sometime back. I noticed his foundation’s online presence needed some polishing, as well as his own profile. I showed him how valuable I could be to him by identifying problems and suggesting ways to improve his foundation’s online presence. I also suggested edits to his LinkedIn profile that improved his profile and made him stand out. I worked with him to improve those as if I were hired for that job – suggested edits, reviewed changes, and gave feedback. Just a few days after being connected, he asked me to lead their content admin team. As they seek to expand their operations to my country, I am now appointed as their first country director in Ghana. We mostly think of ourselves when building connections, but that could only take us so far. I have been voluntarily helping people improve their LinkedIn profiles for a while now. I also identified a problem many new #African BYU-Pathway online students face and created a WhatsApp platform to assist more of the new students with tech issues and help them succeed. I would help them with tips, and tutorial videos (to mention just 2) on how to access school resources, assignments, etc. In the Span of three years, I have assisted close to 3,000 group participants mainly from Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia! (Read full story here .) I have included both volunteer endeavors on my profile and on my resume! My volunteer WhatsApp HelpGroups (as I call them) paved a way for me to be employed as a Peer Mentor/support agent to BYU-Pathway students when that job opportunity was introduced because I had an experience! I didn’t even write a resume when applying. I was given the option to apply with my LinkedIn profile URL/link, and I chose that. My profile did the talking! I always find opportunities to serve and create opportunities for myself to serve when I see no existing opportunities. There are always opportunities to get volunteer experience. If you don’t see opportunities around, create your own! Then add it to your profile/resume!

Not long ago, one of my BYU-Pathway Worldwide classmates sent me a connection request. We have both been using LinkedIn for at least two years (since we were introduced to the platform in the course). We were both introduced to LinkedIn in #PathwayConnect (Professional Skills course). At the time he sent the request, he had only one connection and his profile was not up to date. He had no education section (but I know he is a student and we studied together). He had more work experience but only one was listed; he had no skills listed, and his profile photo was slanted to the left at an angle of 90 degrees. What will this say? Probably it shows that you are not orderly nor detail-oriented. I am not an #HR expert, but I don’t think any recruiter will be happy to see you have anywhere between 0 to 50 connections. Having low connections could correctly predict that you are reserved or introverted, you are not actively engaged with LinkedIn, you don’t understand the purpose of the platform, or you are just not tech-savvy. Remember that LinkedIn’s ultimate purpose is to help you build connections and networks for opportunities. You can’t just be reserved on LinkedIn and find the platform useful. You won’t benefit from using the platform. In case you are wondering, I didn't accept his connection request although I know him, because his profile didn't prove to me that our connection on LinkedIn could be a win-win for both of us. I messaged him on WhatsApp with suggestions to improve his profile, but he didn't do it. He simply just removed his profile photo. Building a solid connection should be a win-win opportunity — this is how it all works. You should show yourself valuable.

So, what is the ideal number of connections? In my opinion, 200 connections is good enough for opportunities if you connect with the right people, but you don’t want to stop building solid connections once you reach 200. However, you can just be relaxed about it at this point. It is proven by LinkedIn that 150 connections is the golden bridge. Once you hit 150 connections, everything accelerates - from your post reach and engagements to your profile views and connection requests. Aim to have at least 150 connections in the shortest possible time. Be sure you connect with people who could add value to your career or educational journey. These people typically have goals that are aligned with yours, are in the same educational institute, are in your industry or the industry you want to be in, and have an influence on the job you are seeking.

Having 150 connections with the right people is better than having 1,000 connections with the wrong people. To make sure your connection requests are accepted by those in high ranks (e.g., CEOs, directors, managers), you should add a personalized connection invitation note to the connection request. To do this on a phone, click on the three-dotted menu on the profile of the person whom you want to connect with. The menu will open more options where you can select "Personalized invite." On a PC, when you hit "Connect,” you will be given the option to add a personalized note. Recently, I received a personalized connection invitation that said, “Hello Charles, I stumbled on your profile and I'm so impressed with your background and experience. I would love to connect with you as I look forward to a positive relationship that benefits both of us. Regards, [name removed].” This is a perfect example of how to draft a personalized connection request note. He mentioned how he found my profile, complimented me, and assured me that connecting could benefit us both. In addition, he had an impressive profile. Why wouldn’t I connect with him?! Interestingly, he is already well-established on LinkedIn with 3.4k plus followers as a creator/influencer. I would have accepted his connection request without a personalized note, yet he still added one. I hope you see the need to add a personalized note now. Those who want to connect with me, to put this into practice, try using this feature to connect with me!

A mistake some people do when building their pool of connections is turning on the creator mode earlier than they should. According to LinkedIn, “Creator mode is a profile setting on your dashboard that can help you grow your reach and influence on LinkedIn. You can turn on creator mode to get access to additional tools and features that help you create content and grow your audience base on LinkedIn.” Creator mode is for those who don’t focus so much on building connections but rather focus on building more audience and followers. Creator mode is for those who post regularly on specific topics for large audiences. Those who use creator mode are called creators or influencers. When creator mode is turned on, your “Connect” button switches to “Follow” (as shown in the picture above). This means that others can follow you without necessarily being a connection. If someone follows you but is not connected with you, you can’t send messages to each other. As a creator, people can still connect with you, but they will have to click on the dotted menu on your profile and then select “Connect” in the dropdown list; however, not everyone knows this. So, for individuals who have fewer connections and want to build strong-tie connections, I advise you not to switch to creator mode until you have at least 250 connections. LinkedIn will occasionally ask you to use their creator mode (regardless of the number of connections you have), and I have seen people with as low as 5 connections turn on creator mode. If you dream of becoming a LinkedIn influencer, please consider beginning by building a strong pool of connections first.

You can start growing your connections with me at the center by visiting my profile . When you visit anyone's profile, on the right side of your computer screen, you’ll see “People Also Viewed” and “People You May Know.” On phone, you can find it at the bottom of the person’s profile. From what you have learned today, go through the suggestions and connect with as many as you wish. Alternatively, you can also go to the “My Network” tab on your PC and phone to see some connection suggestions and requests. Look at how their profile headlines quickly help you decide whether or not to view their profile. (See why you got to have a catchy headline? Remember to target those with similar interests, careers, or education. These people are also the most likely to engage with your posts.

Also, add a personalized connection request note when connecting with people of high ranks (whom you think may not respond to your connection request). When doing so, generally compliment them (look at their profile for hints), state why you want to connect with them and communicate why this relationship can benefit you both. Once they connect with you, send them a message that includes a compliment and ask them about something that interests them (again, look at their profile for hints). It doesn’t matter if they respond or not; keep trying. Get to know them and let them know you.

These are some questions I ask before accepting connection requests: Do his work and education interest me? If he doesn’t have any work experience, does he have volunteer experience? What opportunities can I offer him if any? What opportunities can he offer me? Will he be interested in my posts (for potential reactions/engagements)? Your profile should give readers encouraging answers to these general questions, at least, to make others want to connect with you.

As I shared in the “My Journey on LinkedIn ” article, through the very tips shared above:

“I have literally been ‘Linked In’ to Bloom as an employee and been connected with great minds all over BYU-Pathway headquarters and beyond”

I also got appointed to be the country director of an NGO and found a potential partnership opportunity by building a solid pool of connections. You are on your way to finding opportunities, as you keep building a solid pool of connections. My other article will teach you how to be influential and be recognized on LinkedIn, and how to create engaging conversations with your connections on your way to building strong-tie connections with them. In preparing for that, watch this 30 seconds tip on how to have engaging conversations with your connections (even those in high ranks). Let me know if you are excited about the second chapter!