What happens when you send a connection request
When you send a connection request on LinkedIn, you are telling the platform and the other person that you want to link your profiles. LinkedIn notifies them by name, shows them your profile photo, job title, and headline, and lets them accept, decline, or ignore the request. The person can see your full profile — including your work history, education, skills, and any posts you have made — whether or not they accept.
Once someone accepts your request, you become "connected." LinkedIn then shows you each other's activity: when you post, like, or comment, the other person may see it in their feed. You can also message each other directly. LinkedIn uses your connections to build recommendations for who else you might want to connect with, and it uses connection data to show you job openings at companies where you have connections.
The request itself is not private. LinkedIn logs that you sent it, when you sent it, and whether it was accepted. This data helps LinkedIn understand your network and refine what it shows you.
Key Takeaways
- A connection request shows the other person your name, photo, headline, and current job title, and they can view your full profile whether they accept or not.
- Once connected, your activity — posts, likes, comments — may appear in the other person's feed, and you can message each other directly.
- LinkedIn tracks all connection requests and uses this data to recommend new connections and job opportunities to both of you.
- You can customize what you share with specific connections by adjusting your profile visibility settings, though most LinkedIn users see the same information about you.
How to send a connection request step by step
Open LinkedIn and search for the person's name in the search bar at the top of the page. Click on their profile when it appears. On their profile page, look for a button that says "Connect" — it is usually near the top, next to their name and photo. Click it.
LinkedIn will ask whether you want to add a note to your request. You can write a short message explaining why you want to connect — for example, "I saw your post about remote work and would like to stay in touch" — or you can send the request without a note. A note makes the request feel more personal and increases the chance the person will accept, but it is optional. Click "Send" when you are done.
The request goes to the person's inbox. They will see your name, photo, and headline. They can accept (which makes you connected), decline (which removes the request), or let it sit in their inbox unanswered. If they decline or do not respond within a certain time, the request eventually disappears from their inbox.
What information the other person sees about you
When you send a connection request, the recipient sees your profile photo, your full name, your current job title, your headline (the line under your name that you write yourself), and your location. They also see a preview of your profile, which includes your work history, education, skills section, and any recommendations you have received from other connections.
If your profile is set to public, they can see your posts and activity even before accepting your request. If your profile is private, they can only see what is on your main profile card. Either way, they have access to far more information than you might realize when you hit send.
LinkedIn also shows them how you are connected to them — whether you have mutual connections, whether you work at the same company, or whether you attended the same school. This context helps them decide whether to accept.
How to control what you share when connecting
LinkedIn does not let you hide specific information from individual people you connect with. Once someone is your connection, they see the same profile information as anyone else who visits your page. However, you can control what information appears on your profile in the first place.
Go to your profile and click "Edit public profile" in the top right corner. From here, you can turn your profile to private (which limits what non-connections can see) or public (which lets anyone see most of your information). You can also hide your activity status — whether you are currently online — by going to Settings, clicking "Visibility," and toggling off "Activity status."
You can also control whether your connections see your activity. In Settings under "Privacy," you can choose to hide your profile from search engines, hide your connections list from other users, and control who can see when you have read a message. These settings explore to all your connections at once, not to individual people.
Why LinkedIn shows your information to connection requests
LinkedIn's business model depends on keeping you engaged with the platform. The more you connect with people, the more activity you generate, and the more data LinkedIn collects about your professional network. When someone receives your connection request with your photo and headline visible, you are more likely to seem familiar or trustworthy, which increases the chance they will accept. This benefits LinkedIn because accepted connections mean more activity and more reasons for both of you to return to the platform.
LinkedIn also uses connection data to train its recommendation algorithms. The more connections you have and the more you interact with them, the better LinkedIn can predict what content you want to see and what jobs you might be interested in. This makes the platform more valuable to employers and recruiters, who pay for access to LinkedIn's tools.
What to consider before connecting with someone
Think about whether you actually want to see this person's posts in your feed and whether you are comfortable with them seeing yours. Accepting a connection request is not the same as being friends on Facebook — it is a professional signal that you have a working relationship. If you connect with someone and then never interact with them, that is fine, but if you connect with someone and then when ready disconnect, they may notice.
Be aware that your connections list is visible to other people on LinkedIn (unless you hide it in your privacy settings). This means that when someone views your profile, they can see who you are connected to, which reveals information about your professional network and the companies or industries you work in.
If you are job hunting, connecting with recruiters and hiring managers is standard practice. If you are connecting with competitors or people at companies you are interested in, be thoughtful about what your profile says about you — they will read it carefully.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can someone tell if I viewed their profile before sending a connection request?
LinkedIn shows profile viewers to premium members, but not to free users. If the person has a free account, they will not know you looked at their profile. If they have a paid subscription, they may see that you viewed their profile, but they will not know when or how many times.
What happens if someone declines my connection request?
If they decline, the request disappears from their inbox and from your "Pending" list. You cannot see that they declined — it just vanishes. You can send another request later, but LinkedIn may warn you if you send too many requests to people who have not responded or declined.
Do I have to accept every connection request I receive?
No. You can decline any request, and the person will not be notified. You can also ignore requests and let them sit in your inbox. If you do not respond within a certain time, LinkedIn may remove the request automatically, but you can delete it yourself at any time.
Can I send a connection request to someone I do not know?
Yes, but LinkedIn discourages it. If you send requests to many people who do not know you, LinkedIn may limit your ability to send requests or flag your account as spam. Requests are more likely to be accepted if you include a note explaining why you want to connect.
Does LinkedIn tell someone when I accept their connection request?
No. When you accept a request, the person is straightforward notified that you are now connected. They do not receive a separate notification that you accepted — the connection appears in their list. However, they may see your activity in their feed going forward.