Is this new? Getting linkedin requests from interviewees.

In My Humble Opinion
1

I interviewed three candidates this morning for an open position in our department. I’m not the hiring manager, and I’d never met or talked to these candidates before today. (Honestly, I think the only reason I got put on the interview schedule is that I had available time on my calendar). At the end of the interview, I gave each of the candidates one of my business cards in case they had questions later.

I just saw that I have linkedin contact requests from two of the three candidates. That seems odd to me. They’re not contacts–I interviewed them for 45 minutes or so. Is this what candidates do these days? It’s been a year or so since I sat behind the interview desk, and maybe things are different now. It was an entry level position so maybe it’s what soon to be graduates do. But it seems pushy to me. And a bit desperate. Am I just a dinosaur or is this weird?

(Unfortunately, we didn’t like any of the three candidates, but that’s beside the point.)

2

I think this is what a lot of people who don’t really get networking do. I tend to keep my linkedin for actual contacts/ connections: people whose work I could recommend, or whom I could reasonably ask for an introduction. However, every time I go to a networking event, several people whom I met for a grand total of perhaps 45 seconds will want to connect with me on LI. It’s a tough call, because I don’t want to be rude to someone who may eventually become a great connection, but 90% of the time the virtual connection is as far as it goes, and I delete them from my list a couple of months later.