I Let Him Down Easy

So, would you use LinkedIn like a dating site to meet the opposite sex?

Ya, me neither.

Today, I was on the receiving end of an email from a man, who shall remain nameless, who was doing just that.

I was quite taken aback when I opened my morning email to find one that started like this:

saw your profile on linked-in and you caught my eye,I am interested in communicating more and sharing more about me with you and hope to learn more about you too that is if you are single and interested in communicating further.This is all new for me, it is the first time i would ever go against protocol of doing business only on the Linked-in website. I do believe everything is possible if we put our mind and heart together just like i believe that good things can be found in the least places and when we least expect.

I have mixed emotions receiving this. Part of me thinks that’s sweet that someone is taking chances and doing different things to try and connect. Having done so much myself to try and find love, I am quite familiar with leaving no stone unturned.

The marketer in me gives some points for “owning the channel” and “being where your competition is not”, but the biggest part of me thinks this is just a little creepy and taking some inappropriate liberties.  If you were wrapping up a job interview and the interviewer told you they just had one more question for you and then asked you out on a date would probably elicit similar feelings and would be just as inappropriate.

So, today’s do it different for me was resisting the advances of a stranger on LinkedIn. Not that I usually accept advances made by strange men, but I have honestly never had to do that on this social network.

I wasn’t mean or nasty. I wasn’t judgemental. I didn’t give any rationale. All I said was:

I received your note. While I appreciate its intention. I am not interested in continuing any form of communication.

Thanks for your interest and good luck to you.

Have any of you had similar LinkedIn experiences?