Anonymous wrote:I don't connect on LinkedIn with anyone I don't know personally.

likewise

Anonymous wrote:I've received a couple of random invitations to connect and private messages from people asking for job help from I do not know and haven't met before and don't have any common relationships with. I feel awkward about responding to these and don't know about protocol. I'm hesitant to accept connections from people I don't know who aren't even in my field because I don't want people to think I'm connected to someone I know absolutely nothing about. I'm willing to help people to the extent that I can, but also feel weird about meeting strangers on Linkedin for coffee. Thoughts?

I stopped connecting with requests I had not met. They would just see who we had in common, get my work email or phone number and then contact me for a job. Yuck.
The people worthy of informationals send v thoughtful notes. You can tell who's sharp.

If I don't know someone and they don't have some connection to a school or job -- I simply don't answer the request. There is no obligation to respond to folks you don't know. And, like others -- I have a fairly broad range of folks I'll accept.

LinkedIn has had some phishing scandals, too, so I’m wary about strangers.

I get a lot of random requests, likely because my boss is pretty high profile. I’m always afraid of not accepting a request when it really is a person I’ve met at a conference or something. So now I have at least a couple dozen requests in my inbox that I haven’t responded to. What do people think of a blanket reply, something like:

Thanks for your request. Could you remind me how we’re connected?

Weird, or better than silence?

I don't connect with strangers either. I've worked at several fairly big employers (20+K employees) so there are multiple second-level connections that I do not know personally that I do not accept unless they send me a personal message that resonnates (eg "hey i also used to work at XXX, we didn't know each other but your current jobs sounds interesting and i would love to talk to you more about it" that type of stuff. The way I look at it is, if I want to connect with someone I don't know personally, I would either send a personal message or get one of my connections to introduce us. So I kind of expect that from people who send me invites to connect as well.

Anonymous wrote:I have a broad linkedin policy, but everyone I connect with has to have some connection to either a job, school, or common friend.

+1 Doesn't mean I'll go out of my way to vouch for you or anything, but you never know who may be able to connect you to someone else or provide interesting information. I figure if I am broadly willing to do this for other people, they will be willing to help me out when I need it, too.

I don't connect on LinkedIn with anyone I don't know personally.

I have a broad linkedin policy, but everyone I connect with has to have some connection to either a job, school, or common friend.

In the rare instance that I've had this happen -- I have not accepted the connection for the same reason you say; now I will accept it if it is clear that they found me from a common group -- usually alums of the same school even if we are from different years. As for meeting up, I am currently in heavy networking mode and don't ask for people to meet up unless I have first done a call with them on the phone, it has gone well, and I feel like I have more to ask them (which usually I don't if I get a good 20-30 min call).

I've received a couple of random invitations to connect and private messages from people asking for job help from I do not know and haven't met before and don't have any common relationships with. I feel awkward about responding to these and don't know about protocol. I'm hesitant to accept connections from people I don't know who aren't even in my field because I don't want people to think I'm connected to someone I know absolutely nothing about. I'm willing to help people to the extent that I can, but also feel weird about meeting strangers on Linkedin for coffee. Thoughts?