Professional Networking: You are doing it wrong.

I had a few moments of spare time the other day and I decided to flip through the "depths" of LinkedIn to see what updates and new items I'd recently missed. LinkedIn has a lot of great features, upgrades, learning and networking capabilities that are old and new - but I didn't know what I didn't know, so I went clicking.

Somehow, not quite in the secret corners of LinkedIn, I came to the page called "manage invitations". Within, you have 2 options - received and sent. Obviously, the received ones are those that I am aware of. But I got a bit of a chuckle from the sent file and how many sent invites were still just sitting there.

Of course there are those people who, in the course of networking, job seeking, bench marking you may have sent a connection request and they simply don't frequent LinkedIn, so they never saw your request. But I am willing to bet that there are so many more sitting in this file who are active on here, and just -dare I say- rejected or passed up my invitation. Bearing in mind, I think this folder goes back for YEARS of invitations. But I am not too proud to say that some of these potential connections simply haven't accepted my connection because they don't know me. Further, I've heard people say "I don't even know this person who sent me a request". And I am also VERY aware that when you request connections, it asks you how you know the person...which hasn't ever made a ton of sense to me. It got me thinking.

One of the main topics of discussion I have in mentoring and advising on job-seeking, is how to professionally network. I am by no means an expert (obligatory disclaimer) if there is even such a thing as expert status here. But there were a few points that I thought were necessary to address for those who wish to do a better job at being a professional net worker. Just my opinion, the following are faux pas.

Rejecting connections on LinkedIn: This isn't Facebook, and you shouldn't have too much personal stuff on here anyway. And while it's important to be judicious about your connections and who/why they are there, there's not really any expectation of privacy when you have any profile on the internet, so keep your SSN and address to yourselves. Professional networking exists to share and build ideas, keep a line in the water or be found for jobs, and to create and share industry news - among other things. Doing any of these will likely require you to connect with people who are otherwise strangers. How do we chat in the first place if we haven't met? And if you are only interested in connecting with your friends, why are you here? For you job-seekers, passive or active, most recruiters will be strangers and either contact you via InMail from a recruiter subscription, or flat out connect with you publicly.

Political posts: Not much to say here. You stand to gain very little from doing this in a professional setting. Try social media.

Re-posting/sharing posts without context: Great, you are sharing some news. If you are a well-connected industry leader or well known expert in your field, you can probably get away with article, link and re-shares without any context because people know why you are sharing it. But if you are just starting out and/or trying to build some network or clout, simply posting an article or sharing/re-posting someone else's article, doesn't do much other than share news that someone could otherwise get anywhere else. Add some flavor or personality to it, and you've suddenly opened it up to be noticed and discussed or commented on, which helps to exponentially build your viewership and network.

Common mistakes of profiles: Nothing new here. I am, in fact, probably just repeating what every other article ever told you about how to network on here. But here are a few of those again.

Add info to your profile. Where, when, what and why. I see you worked at XYZ company...but what did you actually do there? Did you accomplish stuff, or just show up to work every day? Add your projects and organizations. If you want to be noticed, be noticeable. Keep the info to a normal standard, not too much and not too little. Think of it as a huge, scroll-able record of your professional life.

Driver's seat selfie? You were going into an interview and realized you looked good in your rear view mirror, so you snapped a selfie and used it as your profile pic. You don't need a $200 head-shot for this thing, but (sarcastically) about 1 out of 5 profile pics are driver's seat headrest photos. Get someone to take a photo of you, even if its a mobile phone photo..it takes 2 seconds. Take time to do it right.

Agree or disagree? What are your thoughts on these? Any others to add to the list?