The #1 LinkedIn Messaging Mistake

And some other pet peeves of mine...

I just recently crossed my one year anniversary at my job (woo!), and made a LinkedIn post (cringe!) about it, while also plugging an opening for a finance role on my team. What followed were many many messages on LinkedIn that left me borderline frustrated.

It is a little funny, unless I know somebody personally, I don’t have a lot of “hire power,” as in it’s probably going to be hard for me to advocate for a stranger beyond a simple referral. That said, I will always be happy to talk about my role to anybody who’s interested (I did on Wednesday), and I respond to every single message on my LinkedIn. I know what it’s like to be on the other side as a student, trying to set up any conversation to inch yourself towards your next job, so I will entertain basically anyone who wants to have a conversation.

I do start with the expectation that people who reach out to me on LinkedIn are looking to do one of the following things:

• Hire me for a pyramid scheme

• Sell me a B2B product/service I would have no way or reason to use

• Ask for a referral

And I’m totally fine with the referral! Ask away! I can’t guarantee it’ll lead somewhere for you, but I’d definitely be the most open-minded to it if you can at least set up a call with me where I can learn more about you and be more comfortable referring you. As a rule, I will not refer anyone I have not verbally spoken to (which, I don’t think is a crazy rule). I do get a fourth type of message that grinds my gears to the extent I mentioned earlier, and it’s what I would call the “guidance request.” If you’re reading this on my Substack after messaging me on LinkedIn, do not take it personally. Instead, let me explain why you should stop sending these kinds of messages.

The message usually goes…

Hi Ian,

I see that you’ve had a successful career in the finance space while working at WMG. I was wondering if you would be available to share any guidance you might have on working in this industry.

Thanks,

I obviously don’t think anyone who messages me with something similar to this is coming from a bad place. Believe me, I want to help you! That is where I start from! But, this request is so vague that it actually makes it harder to help you. In the “guidance request,” you are not defining much of anything about yourself, and you are not telling me explicitly what you’re looking for. Aside from that, whenever I see a message like this, I usually think it’s a long game move for a referral. If you want to ease into asking for a referral, with me or with anybody, ask for a meeting first. I’m just a lowly analyst with that rule; please don’t make that mistake with a hiring manager.

Whenever I receive a message like this, I always redirect the conversation to be more specific (because, once again, I am trying to help you). What do you want to do? What specific things are you curious about for yourself? What are you hoping to learn from me? And the thing I think about the most, that I don’t say, is, what is this conversation for? Is it truly just to learn? Is it an ease into a referral? I can usually accept that a coffee chat will lead into a referral, but I also appreciate setting intentions from the beginning. I think that’s a little bit more personal preference than blanket advice. Here’s how an incredible outreach message would sound to me:

Hi Ian,

I’m <name>, I go to school at <school>, and I’ve always been interested in the finance side of record labels. I was even looking at WMG’s ETA program for opportunities, and would greatly appreciate a referral. Still, I’d love a chance to call so I can hear more about your job and tell you more about me! Here are some times that work for me in the next week <dates and times>.

If you’d like to learn more about me in the meantime, here’s my <resume or personal website>.

Thank you!

I’ve said this before on this newsletter, make it as easy as possible for somebody to say yes. In this scenario, if you gave me a quick tidbit about you and gave me times that I could just pick from, it would be so easy to give you that conversation. Once again, I am by no means the busiest person in the music industry. There are people whose assistants are harder to reach.

In the same vein of making it easier for the people you’re reaching out to, how easy would the “guidance request” be for me? I would type out paragraphs of generic advice that wouldn’t be catered to you, about no specific topic. Then, you would ask for a referral, which is just more work for me. If someone is open to referring you at all, they’re probably open to getting to know you a little bit first, too, so at least give them that opportunity.

This article has come out more rant-forward than intended, but it’s relevant advice nonetheless. Have you tried any cold LinkedIn outreach that worked better than you expected? Let me know in the comments! And, in the spirit of being open to have a conversation with anyone, email me at ian@joinjukebox.com if you’re a student who wants some guidance to have a quick coffee chat! I love meeting readers!