r/linkedin • u/ulzzang001 • 8h ago
Follow up?
Okay, I need some outside opinions because I’m overthinking this.
There’s a person on linkedin whose career path is really relevant to the direction I’m interested in professionally.
We connected around 2–3 months ago but we’ve never actually interacted. I don’t post on linkedin, so there hasn’t really been an opportunity for them to interact with my content either.
A few days ago, I finally decided to message them. I sent it on saturday and it’s now wednesday. My message was roughly:
“Hey XX, hope you’re doing well :) We connected a while ago and I realized I never actually said hi haha. I was curious, what made you want to move from YY into ZZ?”
It wasn’t a long message or anything.
About an hour after I sent it, they viewed my profile. And that was it. No reply so far. Now I’m wondering:
Did I do something wrong with the message?
Should I send a follow-up eventually or just leave it alone? If I should follow up, what would you actually say without making it awkward or seeming pushy?
2
u/IrritatedMike 6h ago
I'd leave it be; if the person wants to answer, they will. One thing to remember is that not everyone looks at the messages frequently. So give it a while, and if they never respond, it is what it is.
1
u/backpropstl Mod's favorite helper 7h ago
Don't follow up. They don't owe you anything, especially on a Saturday.
1
u/Able-Pineapple-1137 5h ago
Next time, make sure your message is a little more professional and has context as to why you’re asking this. This message reads a bit insane to me, I’d never answer it either.
1
u/DuckinTX293 3h ago
Next time, and possibly still with this connection, comment on their posts before you DM. Do it genuinely, in ways that add to the discussion. If you don’t have anything to say other than “Great post”, best to simply react/insightful, celebrate, anything but ❤️. Save that for connections that you’ve, well, connected with.
It’s a much better way of moving into a more in depth discussion in the DMs. You’ll at least have something to mention, something in common. “I was struck by (mention something that indicates you’ve actually read the post)-I’m curious about what caused you to change direction. Would you mind briefly sharing your thoughts?”
Open, honest, and a bit more targeted. Account holders get hit with a lot of pitchslaps- so much so that it’s almost an automatic response to ignore messages that are missing a point.
Obviously, I don’t know specifics. Use your own words, based on your I always like to remind people to treat LinkedIn like any other networking event. It’s an opportunity to have a conversation. Try this approach. It does take a bit of consistent effort, but worth it when you get real feedback from a person you admire.
1
u/SoftPlay3 2h ago
Yeah I don’t know why some people do this either. Would it kill them to reply? I try to spark up conversation with every new person I connect with, it’s called networking??…
5
u/OliviaPresteign 8h ago
Leave it. You don’t know this person. They saw your message and chose not to reply.
You didn’t do anything wrong here, but lots of people don’t reply to messages from people they don’t know. This is also why I don’t accept connection requests from strangers (although lots of people do).