My boss "wants to connect with me on Linked In"
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Anonymous
| That's wrong, right? I am finally on Linked In because I may be forced to leave a job due to an upcoming move and, despite the fact that everyone in my working group works remotely but me, I am possibly going to be told no because of a larger company policy that just went into effect. So in the 11th hour it's very up in the air whether I'll be able to move and just telecommute as we all had assumed would happen. But it still feels very strange to have my current boss connect with me in what is clearly a networking thing for me. On the one hand, she has tons of connections. On the other hand, it feels very wrong to have her essentially looking over my shoulder. What would you do with this invitation? |
Anonymous
| It will be very odd not to connect with your boss. Some people use linkedin for job networking only, but others use it for general business networking. You shouldn't have anything in your profile you wouldn't want your boss to see anyway. |
Anonymous
But it's also not something you have to act on immediately. Many people sit on connection requests, and it would be very unusual (at least in my experience) for someone to come up and say, "Hey, why haven't you accepted my LinkedIn invitation?" Wait until things settle down with the new job offer and once that's decided you can connect with your boss. |
Anonymous
| Linkedin tries to send this email to everyone in your boss' email contact list, even people who are not on Linkedin. You could just ignore it. |
Anonymous
| Ignore it. It is improper for a supervisor to make this request to a subordinate. If asked about it, just say you aren't in the site often, and make sure your activity is only visible to your contacts. |
Anonymous
Is it really? I'm not on Linked In, but I thought the point of it was to connect with professional contacts in a non-personal way, whereas Facebook is more personal and being friends with your boss may be inappropriate. |
Anonymous
Yeah this is bad advice. It's totally normal and appropriate for a boss to ask to connect with a report on LinkedIn. |
Anonymous
OP here. Yeah, this is the debate I'm wondering about. So it seems OK? I'm not going to immediately do anything but I just find it weird but it might also be weird not to accept it. I feel like I'm in a Catch-22. |
Anonymous
| My current employer has a policy that prohibits supervisors from connecting with their staff on LinkedIn and other social media. But barring a prohibition like that, I don't see anything wrong with connecting with your boss. If you are applying for jobs via LinkedIn, that information is private and hidden (even from your contacts). So unless you send a public comment to one of your contacts saying "hey I am looking for work, can you help", your boss will not see anything. |
Anonymous
Unless you have a horrible relationship with your boss, it can only help you. |
Anonymous
| Of course it is fine for you and your boss to connect on Linkedin. It would be weird not to accept the request. Being connected on Linkedin is like shaking hands with someone at a party - it doesn't mean anything and no one is looking over anyone's shoulders. |
Anonymous
+1 This is perfectly normal. I've had deputy directors in my agency way above my head who've sent Linked In invites. No big deal. |
Anonymous
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LinkedIn Is NOT just for job searching. I'm on the app on my phone every day - it has great articles, ways to keep up with your professional network, hear about events and insights in your industry, etc. Being active on linked in does not mean you are job searching necessarily so I would accept the invite.
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Anonymous
| Thanks everyone! This helps a lot. Sorry, Linked In novice. |
Anonymous
| Could your boss be trying to help you find other work? Or preparing to help you? |