Having a robust professional network on LinkedIn is crucial for advancing your career and keeping up with industry trends. Sending connection requests is the primary way to grow your network. But what happens when someone rejects your request? Is there any way to know if you’ve been rejected on LinkedIn?
The LinkedIn Connection Request Process
When you send a connection request on LinkedIn, the recipient has the option to either accept or ignore the request. If they accept, you become connected. If they ignore, the request will remain pending until the recipient acts on it.
LinkedIn does not notify users if their connection request is ignored. The request will simply remain in a pending state until it eventually expires. This lack of rejection notification is by design to avoid awkwardness or confrontation.
There are a few indications that your request may have been ignored:
- The request remains pending for weeks or months without being accepted
- The recipient is active on LinkedIn but has not responded
- You notice the recipient accepting requests from others in your network
These signs point to the recipient not wanting to connect for whatever reason. But without an explicit rejection notification, you cannot know for certain if you’ve been ignored.
Why Connection Requests Get Ignored
There are several reasons why someone may leave your connection request pending rather than accepting it:
- They don’t know you well enough to connect
- They want to limit their connections
- They forgot to respond to the request
- They intended to connect but never got around to it
- They are no longer active on LinkedIn
Being ignored does not necessarily mean the recipient is rejecting you personally. They may have a policy of only connecting with people they know and work with directly. Highly-connected profiles tend to be more selective about who they add to their network.
Best Practices for Sending Requests
To boost your acceptance rate, follow these best practices when sending LinkedIn connection requests:
- Personalize the note: Write a customized message referencing how you know the person or why you want to connect.
- Send judiciously: Only request to connect if you have a legitimate professional reason, like a shared connection or interest.
- Follow up: If the request has been pending for a while, follow up expressing your interest in connecting.
- Provide value: Share relevant articles or insights to demonstrate you will contribute value to their network.
Taking the time to personalize your requests goes a long way. Generic or spammy invitations are more likely to be ignored.
Following Up on a Pending Request
If your connection request goes unanswered for weeks or months, it is appropriate to follow up one time. Here are some tips for following up effectively:
- Wait at least 4 weeks before following up to allow sufficient time for a response.
- Send a personalized InMail or message re-introducing yourself and expressing interest in connecting.
- Remind them where you met or who you have in common in your network.
- Keep the tone conversational and friendly, not pushy or demanding.
- Do not call out the lack of response directly.
The recipient may have simply overlooked the initial request and a friendly reminder can get their attention. However, if they do not respond after a follow-up, it is best to let it go and not continue pursuing.
Is There Any Way to See Your Rejected Requests?
Unlike other social networks, LinkedIn does not have a list of connection requests that have been explicitly rejected. Since the platform does not notify users of rejections, there is no rejection list to view.
Your pending requests queue will only show requests that have not yet been acted on. Once a recipient takes action on the request by either accepting or ignoring it, it disappears from your pending list.
You can look through your list of pending requests to see ones that have remained unanswered for extended periods. These are likely requests the recipient ignored but that LinkedIn has not yet removed from the queue. But there is no definitive way to distinguish requests that were ignored from those still pending a response.
Viewing Requests You’ve Sent
To view requests you’ve sent that are still pending:
- Go to your profile and click “Pending invitations” under the Connections section
- This will show connection requests you’ve sent that have not been accepted yet
- Sort by most recent to see which requests have been pending the longest
Any very old pending requests are likely ones ignored by the recipient that just haven’t been cleaned out of the queue yet.
Don’t Take Rejection Personally
Being ignored on LinkedIn can feel disheartening, especially when making meaningful connections is so integral to success on the platform. But remember that a lack of response is not necessarily a reflection on you or your value.
Focus on continuing to foster your existing connections, provide value, and expand your network through groups and events. With persistence and care in sending requests, your acceptance rate is likely to increase over time.
Do not let a few ignored requests deter you. Taking rejection personally will only hold you back from building the robust professional network you need to achieve your career goals.
Other Ways to View LinkedIn Activity
While you cannot directly see if you’ve been rejected, LinkedIn does have settings to view other types of activity:
- Who’s Viewed Your Profile: See who has visited your profile recently.
- Post Analytics: View impressions and engagement for your posts.
- Search Appearance: See how often you appeared in search results.
- Network Statistics: Track your number of connections and growth.
Monitoring metrics like these can give you valuable insights into how you are performing on LinkedIn and how engaged your network is. Focus on posting content your connections genuinely care about and interacting sincerely.
Maintaining a Healthy Network
Rather than fixating on possible rejections, aim to cultivate a healthy, thriving network on LinkedIn by:
- Starting relationships offline at events or through introductions
- Interacting meaningfully with your connections by liking and commenting on their posts
- Providing value through insightful content and resources
- Congratulating connections on work anniversaries, new jobs, etc.
- Following up to meet in person after connecting online
The more you engage authentically, the more your network will reciprocate. This helps build trust and strengthen bonds organically over time.
Key Takeaways
- LinkedIn does not notify you if a connection request is rejected or ignored.
- You can only infer rejection from unanswered requests that remain pending long-term.
- Follow best practices when sending requests to boost acceptance rates.
- It’s okay to follow up once on a pending request after several weeks.
- Focus on providing value to your current connections rather than potential rejections.
- Continue networking persistently to build relationships and expand your reach.
Conclusion
Being ignored on LinkedIn can be disheartening but is often not personal. Without explicit rejection notifications, you cannot definitively know if someone has deliberately rejected connecting with you. Use LinkedIn’s available activity insights to monitor the health of your network instead of fixating on possible rejections. Keep providing value to your connections, networking consistently, and building authentic relationships. Maintaining this focus will serve your career goals far better in the long run than worrying about who has or has not accepted your invites.