There are a lot of articles out there about the mistakes people make on Linkedin. Those are helpful, but many of them turn into lists of things you should do couched as “mistakes,” and many of them go into the finer details of refining your profile to make it more effective. But there are some mistakes that will kill your chances on Linkedin before you have a chance to refine anything. I’ve found three big ones.
Avoid misspelling your title. I recently received a request from someone who is a “mangar” at their company. Just in case this was a term I was unfamiliar with, I looked it up, and apparently a mangar is “a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Luciobarbus.” Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against this particular species of fish, and I’m even a bit curious, but I’m afraid the answer is “no.” When you misspell a word in your profile it’s not just unprofessional, it makes you look like a spammer or a fake.
Don’t use the standard introduction when reaching out cold. If you just communicated with someone, and you’re sending the Linkedin connection request as a follow up, then fine, leave the standard intro in there if you’re sure the person will remember who you are. If there’s any chance they will not remember, or you do not know them at all, customize the request or risk them not accepting it. Yeah, I know, sometimes Linkedin doesn’t give you the option to customize the message. Get on a desktop computer, and connect from the person’s profile page, and you’ll always have the option to customize the message.
Avoid these words in your title. Visionary, unique, leader, stellar, amazing, out of this world, and godlike. If you are any of these things, we can figure it out. And if you use the word “passionate” in your title then my wife won’t allow me to connect with you.
What other deathly sins have you seen people commit on Linkedin?
Leave a Reply