WHY should I join your network?

I’ve seen a number of so-called discussion questions on LinkedIn Groups lately that are are on the theme of “Open Networker — please link to me” and “I’m building out my network — please invite me to connect.” In none of these cases does the person tell me either what value they bring or what the rest of us might do to help them.

Whether you are looking for your next job or your next customer or client, please don’t be the person who hits on everyone indiscriminately. It’s not a valued trait. Rather, understand what you bring to the table and why I might want to have a conversation with you. If you’re interesting to me, the connection will follow.

Photo by BuzzFarmers (Flickr).