LinkedIn Connection Message Examples and How to Write Your Own

A good LinkedIn connection message is two or three sentences long: who you are, the specific thing that connects you to this person, and why you want to connect. It asks to connect or to learn, never for a job, and it only works once it carries a real detail. The LinkedIn connection message examples below cover the situations you are most likely to be in: after an event, reaching out to an alum, writing to someone whose work you admire, going through a mutual contact, and following up on a role you applied for.

If you have ever drafted a note to someone senior and left it unsent, the hesitation makes sense. Two sentences to a near-stranger can feel exposed. The good news is that the wording is the easy part. What makes a note work is decided before you type anything.

How to write a LinkedIn connection message, step by step

Each step depends on the one before it. Skip the first two, and the examples in step 3 turn into the kind of generic invitation people learn to ignore.

1. Decide why this person

Before you open the Connect dialog, finish this sentence for yourself: “I want to connect with this person because…” A good answer is concrete. You met them yesterday, they studied what you study, they hold the job you are aiming for, or they wrote something that changed how you work. “They seem interesting” or “they work somewhere I like” is not yet a reason; it is a starting point for finding one.

This matters because everything else in the note is built on it. The recipient is silently asking two questions: who is this, and why me? A concrete reason is the only thing that answers both. If you cannot finish the sentence, the person may still be worth knowing, but you are not ready to write to them yet.

2. Find the shared point

Next, find the common ground the note will open with. It almost always takes one of a handful of forms: you met at an event, you share a school or alumni group, you work or study in the same field, you read something they posted, you have a mutual connection, or you have just applied for a role at their organization. Work out which one applies before you write a word, because it gives you both your first line and your reason.

If you have not met, the profile is where the shared point lives. Boston University Questrom’s Undergraduate Career Development Center suggests looking for a mutual connection, a shared group, a recent post the person published, or a specific part of their experience that caught your attention. Any one of these turns a cold note into one with an obvious reason behind it.

3. Adapt one of these LinkedIn connection message examples

Use the example that matches your shared point as a structure, not as text to paste. Someone who receives a steady stream of generic requests notices at once when a note could have been sent to anyone, so replace every bracket with something true and specific.

• After meeting at an event: “Hi [Name], thank you for the conversation after your talk at [event] on [day]. Your point about [specific thing] has stayed with me, and I’d like to keep in touch.”
• Fellow student or alum: “Hi [Name], I’m a final-year [field] student at [school], where you studied too. I’d love to connect and learn how you moved into [their role or field].”
• Someone whose work you admire: “Hi [Name], I’m starting out in [field], and your post on [topic] changed how I approach [task]. I’d be glad to connect and follow your work.”
• Through a mutual connection: “Hi [Name], [mutual contact] suggested I get in touch. I’m exploring a move from [A] into [B], the same move you made, and I’d value connecting.”
• After applying for a role: “Hi [Name], I’ve just applied for the [job title] position on your team. I’m a [field] graduate from [school] and would like to connect as I learn more about the team’s work.”

Two of these follow patterns that career centers teach their students. For someone you met at an event, Michigan Technological University’s career services recommends naming the event, mentioning something specific you discussed or learned from the person, and saying you would like to continue the conversation. For alumni, the examples from Concordia University Wisconsin’s career center have you introduce yourself as a fellow student with your year and field, then ask to connect so you can learn about the person’s work and career path. In both cases you are asking to continue or to learn, not to be hired, and that is exactly what makes the request easy for an experienced professional to accept.

4. Write the note in two or three sentences

LinkedIn lets you attach a personal note to an invitation, but it caps that note at a few hundred characters. The limit helps you. It forces the three-part structure (who you are, what connects you, why you want to connect) and leaves room for nothing else. The note is not a cover letter, and it is not where your full story goes.

Put the connection point first, because that is what makes the recipient keep reading. Give one clear reason, not three. And keep the ask small: a note that asks for a job, a referral or a favor puts pressure on someone who does not know you yet, while a note that asks to connect or to learn costs them nothing to accept. The real conversation, and any request, belongs in the next message, once there is a relationship to ask within.

Then read your note once the way the recipient will. Does it sound like a person, or like a template? If boiling your point down to two plain sentences is the part that trips you up, it is worth taking an honest communication check. Writing briefly and clearly is something you can practice and improve, not a knack you either have or lack.

5. Send it with the note attached

On the person’s profile, choose Connect, then Add a note, write or paste your message, and send it. If you met at an event, do it soon, while the conversation is still fresh for both of you.

This is the step where many good notes stall, especially when the recipient is senior or someone you admire. If your cursor has ever hovered over Send for a long minute, you are in good company. One of the young people we interviewed about starting work told us:

It’s OK to walk in to meet someone important thinking, ‘Phew, I really hope I don’t mess this up.’ I think that’s a healthy feeling — rather than just thinking it’s all a game. I’m glad I understood that it’s OK to be nervous when you have to talk to someone important.

He was talking about meeting people face to face, but the same nerves show up before a two-sentence note. They are a sign that you take the contact seriously, not a sign that you should wait. Send it with the nerves. Not everyone will accept, and an unanswered request is not a verdict on you; the next person with a real reason to connect is the better use of your energy.

6. Follow up once they accept

An accepted request is where the relationship starts, not where it ends. Send a short message within a day or two of the acceptance, while your name is still fresh: greet them by name, thank them for connecting, add one personal detail, and finish with a light question or a small, specific request that is easy to answer. For example:

“Thanks for connecting, [Name]. I’m choosing between [option A] and [option B] after graduation, and your path through [their experience] is exactly the kind I’d like to understand. Would you be open to a 15-minute call in the next few weeks?”

If they reply, you have a conversation. If they don’t, you still have a connection you can return to later with something useful: an article on a topic they posted about, congratulations on a new role, or a job opening that fits someone they know. Relationships built that way, over time, are what a network actually is.

The skills behind a note that gets answered

Look back at the six steps and notice how little of the work was wording. The hard parts were having a real reason, saying it in two sentences, and pressing Send.

Networking supplies the reason. You reach out to people you don’t know only when you have a concrete reason, you lead with what you share, and you treat a new connection as the start of a relationship where you give as well as take. That is what separates a note someone accepts from one they ignore, and it is also what gives you something to say once they have accepted.

Communication is the note itself. Being brief, stating the main point first, being clear and direct, and writing for the person who will read it are exactly what a two-sentence message demands. It also means knowing what the written note is for: it opens the door, and the real trust gets built later, in conversation.

Building Confidence is what gets the note sent. Confidence here grows from doing, not from waiting until you feel ready: start with lower-stakes contacts such as classmates and alumni before the senior people you admire, let the nerves come along, and decide in advance when you will send. Each note you send gives you evidence that you can do the next one.

The free Job Skills Test looks at these three alongside the other nine skills in the same framework, so you can see which one needs practice before your next round of messages instead of guessing, and then work on that one first.

Where you already stand

Parts of this may already come easily to you. Maybe you are good at spotting what you share with someone, or at writing short messages that say what you mean. Those are the pieces to build on, and the rest can be learned one note at a time, without becoming a different person or a relentless self-promoter.

It is worth starting now, because a network is far easier to build before you need it than in the week you do. If there is a half-written note to someone sitting in a draft or an open tab right now, you already know which step is stopping you, and that step is exactly where to begin. What remains is knowing which of the underlying skills to strengthen first.

Find out which part of reaching out to work on

The only thing left is to see where you actually stand. The Job Skills Test is a free self-assessment of your work skills. It takes 7 minutes and shows where you stand across all twelve, including networking, communication and confidence, so you know which one will make the biggest difference to your next message and the ones that follow.

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