
Ask HN: Do you accept LinkedIn connection requests from recruiters? - johnhess
Let&#x27;s assume you&#x27;re open to new opportunities.<p>Does it look odd to have a bunch of connections to recruiters?  Is it worthwhile?
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jsinkwitz
Yes, but not for the reason you're thinking.

Recruiters and sales people (guilty!) tend to network exceptionally well,
which means by connecting with them, you'd just significantly expanded your
2nd level connections within your own industry.

Winz

~~~
k__
hehe, yes did the same.

But then a recruiter I didn't know wrote me how he heared that people say I'm
a real good JavaScript developer. I asked him who says this and his reference
was another of these recruiters I didn't know.

This I found rather suspicious...

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taprun
I went out of my way to connect with recruiters because it extends my network.
Two benefits:

1) It makes me a 2nd level connection to lots of people I probably _do_ care
about. 2) It ups my visible number of connections and makes me _look_
important. People see 500+ connections and assume I'm someone important.

~~~
Gustomaximus
For this connections number, I now look at connections to skill
recommendations ratio. Generally I see someone as genuinely connected if they
have ~10% skill recommendation numbers for their top skill as they do
connections. If someone have 500+ connections and 10 people have hit a skill
recommendation you know they are spammy.

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Davidbrcz
I will accept one if the recruiter is targeting me. That means he/she wrote a
custom message, read my profile, propose me something...

Each time that I was asked, they were on a frenzy and it looked like they were
connecting to as many people as they could

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lmilcin
LinkedIn is meant to create networks for recruiters and candidates. Waiting to
build your network until you actually need work is like waiting to make your
backups until after you had an outage.

As a rule I will accept requests from recruiters unless:

1\. They obviously don't know how to do their job properly. For example offers
sent out without getting acquainted with my profile or asking me to do their
job is a reason for me to drop the recruiter.

2\. They can't explain the offer, for example what I would be expected to do,
or can't connect me with somebody who can. I understand that recruiters can't
have my level of technical knowledge or they would most likely be working as
engineers. Nevertheless, they are responsible for communication and if I can't
get required information I drop the recruiter altogether.

3\. Recruiters who require me to do any work before I can get to know who I
would be working for.

4\. Recruiters who just outright give me the form to fill in to build their
database, including all the information I already included in my CV or Linked
In profile.

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505
I am open to new opportunities. If I get a request from someone with a lot of
connections, my heuristic is I don't add the someone to my network. I don't
think a single person with lots of connections is actually helpful to the
information represented in 'my' network.

If a recruiter looks interesting, I try and open a conversation without making
them part of my network.

And rules are made to be broken, of course.

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dozzie
It doesn't look odd, the same way it doesn't look odd that you have in friends
list bunch of people you have never seen and know nothing about. People just
accept anybody as a contact.

Me, I don't accept any recruiter unless I know them in person. I even have it
stated clearly in my profile, though most of the recruiters don't even bother
reading it.

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ramtatatam
I used to accept when I was potentially interested in getting new job :-) I
even got quite an interesting interview from my LinkedIn network long time
ago. Now recruiters contact me for slightly different purposes and mostly it's
a waste of time from my perspective.

Some of them will try to connect with you if you have many connections so then
they harvest your connections too - I deal with it by making sure nobody can
see my connections (you can set this up in privacy section)

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adamb_
Generally no. The thing is the value of that connection is really low, because
most recruiters connect with as many candidates as they can indiscriminately.
The reason for that is financial: If you're directly connected then it doesn't
cost any credits to send an in InMail message.

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joeax
I'll accept a connection every now and again, and only if we share connections
with at least 2 other non-recruiters/technical people.

I try not to overload my connections with recruiters as they don't provide
much network feedback value (i.e. they rarely comment or like anything I
post).

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hulahoof
I don't think it's odd from an employer's point of view. I accept all requests
that may offer some value to me in the future.

I used to dedicate some time to replying to the messages that follow but they
became a bit overwhelming.

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JSeymourATL
> Is it worthwhile?

Perhaps more compelling-- connect with senior executives in roles & companies
that you can help. Imagine connecting with CTO/CIO's, VP's of Engineering in
your space.

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camhenlin
Yes, I don't care to talk to them at this time, but my situation could change
at any time and I may want access to their contact information

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jeena
I don't use LinkedIn.

~~~
tonyedgecombe
Me neither but if I was still in the jobs market I would.

