244: Mining Your Connections' Connections on LinkedIn

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Recently, I was showing a client how to leverage her connections’ connections on LinkedIn, and she was blown away. She felt like she had found the holy grail, so I thought I would share this technique with you.

What we’re talking about.

Let’s begin with what I’m talking about. You have connections on LinkedIn – LinkedIn calls these 1^st-level connections. The people you are already connected with.

Each of your connections has connections – LinkedIn calls these 2^nd-level connections. Think of them as one-offs.

You have the ability to see all of your 2^nd-level connections. Why would you want to do this? Because it significantly expands your network. And, because these people are connected to someone you may know, you can reach out to your mutual connection and ask them to introduce you.

Conversely, because you are a 2^nd-level connection, someone who may want to interview you for a position can reach out to your mutual connection to get the down low on you before they reach out to you.

I have had multiple clients leverage my connections – their 2^nd-level connections, to obtain jobs. Either they’ve asked me to introduce them or they’ve made the connection themselves. I have about 6,000 connections, so leveraging my connections significantly expanded those clients’ networking reach.

How to do it.

Hopefully, I’ve made a compelling case for leveraging your connections’ connections…now let’s talk about how to do it.

You really need to master the Advanced Search function for this. As of this recording date in September of 2022, here are the steps to access your connections’ connections:

1.    Type “People” in the search bar. You’ll then get a series of options that pop up under the search bar.

2.    Click on “All Filters.”

3.    Let’s say you are trying to mine my connections. You would click “2^nd connections” and put my name in the “Connections of” space. You’ll want to add additional filters; otherwise, you will get about 6,000 results.

For example, maybe you aren’t connected to anyone who works at Amazon, so you choose “2^nd connections” of Lesa Edwards, and in the “Current Company” box, you select Amazon. You will then see all my connections who currently work at Amazon.

If this doesn’t yield results, you could then try 2^nd connections of someone else you are connected to, or you could include people who previously worked at Amazon.

You can also use the geographic filter – who works at Amazon in a particular city? Or maybe you are moving to Dallas and want to see who I’m connected to who lives there no matter the company they work for.

See how this works?

What to do next.

Once you’ve identified some target people, you can either reach out to them directly for a connection or ask the mutual connection to introduce you.

If you reach out directly, I recommend starting with something like this:

“I see we’re both connected to Lesa Edwards – let’s connect!” Notice I am not trying to sell myself or ask for information up front; this can be a deterrent for many people if they think you are being too “salesy.”

Once they have accepted your invitation to connect, I recommend thanking them with a message like this:

“Thanks so much for connecting! Lesa said you really love working at ___ and she suggested I reach out to you with my questions about ___. Would you have a few minutes to jump on Zoom with me?”

From here, your goal is to have specific questions to ask that should only take about 15 minutes of their time. Before you end the conversation, ask “Who else should I talk to about ___?” and ask them to introduce you to those people.

-Follow up with a thank you email

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