How To Connect on LinkedIn Without Knowing the Person (and Ask for Career Advice)

I often get asked by people, “How do you connect with people that you don’t know on LinkedIn?”

“How do you connect and ask about a career or a career change?”

“How do you connect and ask about a potential job opportunity?”

Well, if that’s you too, then you’re in luck!

Because I’m going to give you my 4-step formula proven to work hundreds of times with my clients.

By using this formula, note that you won’t get a 100% success rate.

That would be absolutely crazy!

But my clients have recently achieved between a 40% to 60% success rate when they use this method.

So, it’s a yes to a meeting, a yes to a phone call, and a yes to a Zoom meeting (or coffee).

But first, let me tell you what not to do.

Common Mistakes Making Connections on LinkedIn

This is an example of a message that I would typically get on LinkedIn, that I would just ignore:

The reason why I ignored them should be obvious.

But I will go through why one by one:

1. It would have taken them only 12 seconds to find out that my name’s Karalyn.
2. If they looked at my company, they would have figured out that I’m not a large business. And it’s not likely that I’m going to be looking for a Cyber Security Expert.
3. They’re asking me to check their profile – to make some guesses about them or what they could offer me.

When you write these kinds of messages on LinkedIn, you’ve got to remember that you’re coming into my space.

You don’t want me to do any work at all apart from making a quick decision about whether to say yes or no to what you’re actually asking me.

So, how do you get people you don’t know to respond to you on LinkedIn?

The 4-Step Proven Formula for Cold Connections on LinkedIn

This formula comes straight from my Straight to Shortlist Challenge.

The challenge helps you stop waiting for recruiters – almost the most frustrating thing in your job search.

It helps you tap into the hidden job market and get 5 meetings with 5 employers in 5 weeks!

So, here’s the proven formula:

Step 1: Make Them Feel That You’ve Picked Them Out Personally

Do this by telling them how you found them.

I have a real-life example from one of my clients.

Claire wants to change her career from being in finance to working within the mental health industry – either as a Counselor or a Psychologist.

She was thinking about doing some additional training but was unsure about what the market values.

So, she went searching on LinkedIn for people who had a background that suggested they could offer her some real insight into the career move that she wanted to make.

Claire found Jane on LinkedIn.

Now, Jane is a counselor working at the Rochester Wellness Center.

Here’s how Claire implemented my formula:

With this, Jane instantly feels like she’s been selected specifically or personally.

She knows that Claire has actually gone out of her way to find her.

Step 2: Make a Genuine Connection

If there’s something within your target’s profile – like something they’ve written, posted, or liked – that you really relate to, tell them.

Tell them how you’ve connected to that bit of information that they’ve put out there.

For Claire, what she said was:

By writing this, she’s showing that she really connects and relates to what Jane says.

And again, Jane knows that she’s been picked out personally.

Step 3: Introduce Yourself Briefly

Give a little brief introduction about yourself.

You should write no more than 2 lines for this.

It just needs to be the bits about yourself that are relevant to the conversation you want to have with them.

So, Claire said this:

Only include what they need to know to understand why you would be reaching out or asking a question.

Remember, you don’t need to include paragraphs, only the relevant bits.

Step 4: Tell Them What You Want from Them

Tell them what you want from that email.

It makes it easy for them to say yes!

So, it’s your call to action for them.

This is what Claire wrote:

Then, she included another little compliment at the end.

Because people respond to people who like them.

What happened from here is Jane answered the email.

And Claire made a wonderful new connection and started a fabulous conversation.

And that’s the 4-step formula!

Conclusion

As I mentioned, I’ve used this formula time and time again on LinkedIn.

And it works between 40% to 60% of the time.

Sometimes people are too busy.

Sometimes you’ve missed the mark.

Sometimes they can’t understand what it is that you want from them or they don’t see the value of networking.

But generally, this approach gets between 40% to 60% rate.

So, I hope you found this helpful!

And I hope you’ll make new LinkedIn connections.

Curious if your LinkedIn profile will get you hired? Then take this short quiz!

I’ve also talked about my 4-step formula on my Youtube channel: