The Dreaded "I don't know ...."

Normally in our house this is just my response to a question from my wife;

what do you want to eat? - I don't know
where do you want to go? - I don't know

You get the picture.

But; "I don't know" in LinkedIn has much bigger consequences.

In my early days of trying to expand my network, I started inviting everyone I could. I'd find a profile for someone who used to work at the same company and send an invitation. After all, we knew of each other. I'd see a profile with an email address and - you guessed it - I'd send an invitation. After all, recruiters want to be connected with potential candidates - don't they? Sometimes - no.

When you reach the magic number of "I don't knows", you get a nasty-gram from LinkedIn that indicates you've been restricted and asks you to confirm your agreement to the terms and conditions. Ouch. After agreeing, you get a message from LinkedIn that you've been unrestricted.

What if you get more "I don't knows" after that? Then what happens?

I don't know.

I certainly didn't want to find out, so I quickly withdrew a bunch of outstanding invitations.

I'm now much more careful about who, and how, I invite. I only invite directly those I know well - just like LinkedIn wants me to. Those I don't know so well; I "invite" outside of LinkedIn with just an email message.

Note that it's not until you reach the "magic number" of "I don't knows" that you get restricted, so it's a good idea to review your LinkedIn mailbox (sent view) to see if it's happening at all. This way you can adjust your invitation practices before LinkedIn sends the "nasty-gram".