LinkedIn Connection Request Notes That Fit 300 Characters

A LinkedIn connection request note is capped at 300 characters with a Premium membership and 200 on a free account, so every word has to earn its place. This guide breaks down what counts toward each limit, when to skip the note, and gives you five recruiter templates.

Recruiters use connection requests to open a direct path to candidates without spending an InMail credit. Below you will find where they fit in a sourcing strategy and five notes you can adapt to your roles.

👉 You may also want to know how to send an automated connection request on LinkedIn. Check our blog post on how to automate LinkedIn connection requests.

What is a connection request on LinkedIn?

A connection request is how you add people to your network on LinkedIn. You can send one to people you already know or to candidates you want to engage and connect with. LinkedIn also lets you attach a short note: Premium memberships get up to 300 characters, while free accounts get up to 200.

The 300-character limit on LinkedIn invitation notes

When you add a note to a connection request, LinkedIn gives you a small box with a hard cap. On LinkedIn Premium, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter, the note can be up to 300 characters, and you can personalize every request you send. That covers most recruiters, since sourcing usually runs on one of those paid seats.

Free accounts get less room. LinkedIn’s help center says basic accounts are limited to 200 characters and only a few personalized invitations per month, listed as five at the time of writing (checked August 2026). These free limits have changed several times, so treat any specific number as a moving target and confirm it before you build a workflow around it. You can read LinkedIn’s own breakdown on its InMail and personalized invitations help page.

Everything in the box counts toward the limit: letters, spaces, line breaks, punctuation, and emojis. A single emoji can eat several characters, and line breaks count too, so a note that looks short can still trip the cap. LinkedIn simply will not let you send a note that runs over, so it is safest to draft the message where you can see the count and trim it before you paste it in.

One more thing worth knowing: filling the entire limit is rarely the goal. A practical target is roughly 120 to 180 characters. That range leaves room to say who you are, why you are reaching out, and why the candidate may want to connect.

LinkedIn connection request notes vs InMail messages

Connection requests and InMail serve different purposes. A candidate has to opt in by accepting your request, and once they do, your future messages land in a normal conversation. InMail lets you contact someone before they join your network, but each message uses a credit.

A candidate accepting a connection request does not guarantee they will reply. However, they are now in your network, and you can reach out straight to their LinkedIn inbox.

By clicking on Contact Info on his profile, you may also find his personal email address and his phone number, which is another advantage of the connection request.

Last but not least, InMail is a limited resource. You only get a set number of InMail credits, and how many depends on your plan (LinkedIn Recruiter Lite or LinkedIn Recruiter Pro). Once you run out, you have to wait for your monthly credits to refresh or pay to upgrade. Leaning on connection requests helps you stretch those credits and keep your outbound recruitment costs down.

👉Check out our blog post: LinkedIn InMails vs. Connection Requests.

How many LinkedIn connection requests can I send each week?

LinkedIn is not fully transparent about how many connection requests you can send each week. Recruiters commonly report a ceiling somewhere around 100 to 200 per week, but LinkedIn does not publish an exact figure and adjusts it based on how your account behaves. If you send too many too fast, or too many go unanswered, you can hit an invitation limit and get temporarily paused. Steady, well-targeted sending is safer than blasting the maximum.

How to send connection requests on LinkedIn with a note or a message

The standard way to send a connection request is to go to the candidate’s LinkedIn profile and click “Connect”.

If the button is not displayed, you will have to click on the “More” button, and then “Connect”

After this step, you can add a note to your connection request. The maximum is 300 characters with a Premium membership and 200 on a free account.

This will help you save a lot of time and encourage you to use the connection request.

What if I want to automate the connection requests sending or, to send them to multiple recipients?

LinkedIn does not have a built-in feature to automate connection requests, and you cannot send a connection request note to several people at once from LinkedIn itself.

However, by using Leonar, you will be able to design automated sequences which include connection requests. For a deeper dive into this topic, read our complete guide to LinkedIn automated messaging.

Mistakes to avoid in your LinkedIn connection request notes

Before sharing the perfect connection request messages used by the most talented recruiters and talent acquisition managers, here is a quick list of the common mistakes you need to avoid while sending sourcing messages:

1. Get the first name wrong on the candidate => “Hello John” / “I’m Mary” / “Oh sorry…”.
2. Leaving tags in the note: “Hello [First name]”;
3. Share a job offer that has nothing to do with the candidate in question
4.  Offering a scope of responsibility that is far less than the candidate’s current position
5. Lack of transparency: “My client is a tech company looking for a candidate for a position with a high level of responsibility. Compensation to be discussed”.
6.  Not knowing the ins and outs of a position at all. Example: Contacting a strategy consultant instead of an IT consultant, contacting a Backend instead of a Frontend developer, …

Of course, out of the panel of candidates you will contact, there will sometimes be some who do not fall into one of the cases mentioned above.

The idea is to minimize the risks to maximize the response rate.

A higher response rate means:

➜ Less time spent on sourcing

➜ A higher probability of finding the right candidate

➜ A reduced time-to-hire

5 LinkedIn connection request note templates under 300 characters

Below are five written connection request notes, plus a no-note option as a bonus. Each written template fits the 300-character Premium limit, and four also fit the 200-character free-account limit. Trim Note 1 before using it on a free account. Every card shows the exact character count so you can adapt it safely.

Note 1: give as much detail about the job as possible

Sarah Recruiter · Talent Acquisition Partner

Hello [first_name], I’m looking for a CFO for [company], a FoodTech scaling toward profitability. Team: two accounting and payroll managers. Location: Paris. Salary: around 150k, to be discussed. Are you open to hearing more?

225 / 300 characters

This type of note gives candidates the maximum information up front.

Pros:

• Saves time for both sides, since the role, location, and salary are already on the table
• Gives the candidate useful context about the job and the pay

Cons:

• A candidate who is not interested may be less likely to accept or reply
• It fills more of the limit, so there is little room left for personalization

Note 2: act as a talent agent

Sarah Recruiter · Talent Acquisition Partner

Hello [first_name], your profile is in high demand right now. I’d like to add you to my network to share roles in [industry]. I have one at [company] that could be a strong fit. Talk soon.

188 / 300 characters

This approach works well for recruiters, and especially for headhunters building a long-term network.

Pros:

• Great way to expand your network for future roles

Cons:

• Some candidates would have preferred more detail about the job

Bonus option: skip the note entirely

Sarah Recruiter · Talent Acquisition Partner

(no note added)

0 / 300 characters

It may not be obvious, but some candidates prefer a request with no note at all.

Pros:

• Requires no drafting or personalization time
• Good option when your goal is simply to grow your network

Cons:

• You may need to follow up with an InMail or email as a second step, for candidates who do not accept note-free requests from recruiters

Note 3: a lightly personalized template

Based on a candidate’s background or interests, you can tailor a short message to the person you are targeting.

Sarah Recruiter · Talent Acquisition Partner

Hello [first_name], I have a role at [company] that might interest you. Your experience at [former_company] is exactly what the team is looking for. Would you like to connect?

175 / 300 characters

Pros:

• Shows more interest in the candidate’s specific experience

Cons:

• Can be time-consuming to do by hand
• Some candidates recognize lightly templated notes for what they are

Note 4: a deeply personalized note

Another option is to find something specific in the candidate’s background, interests, or recent activity, and build the note around it.

Sarah Recruiter · Talent Acquisition Partner

Hello [first_name], I saw your interest in sustainability. We’re building an app that measures environmental impact, and the role we’re hiring for could be a great match. Open to a quick chat?

192 / 300 characters

Pros:

• Shows the candidate why their specific background caught your attention

Cons:

• The most time-consuming to write for recruiters at scale

Note 5: mention a referral or shared connection

Use this version when a colleague, hiring manager, or mutual contact gave you a relevant reason to reach out.

Sarah Recruiter · Talent Acquisition Partner

Hello [first_name], [mutual_contact] suggested I reach out. I’m hiring a [role] at [company], and your work on [project] stood out. Would you be open to connecting?

164 / 300 characters

Pros:

• Adds clear context for the request
• Fits both paid and free account limits

Cons:

• Only use a person’s name when they genuinely suggested the introduction

Is it possible to generate notes using AI?

AI can help you write your notes without leaving the tool you already source in. Leonar generates connection request notes with AI right inside the app, so you can draft a note, keep it within your account’s limit, and move on.

As you can see on the screenshot, you can also ask the AI to adapt the message to each candidate’s background. In an automated sequence, Leonar’s AI variables go a step further and personalize a line for every recipient at send time (a Professional plan feature).

Is it possible to cancel a connection request?

You have two options to withdraw a connection request

If you are on the candidate’s profile, you can click on the “pending” button to withdraw the invitation. You have to know that you won’t be able to resend any connection request to this person for up to 3 weeks.

Another option you have is to go to “Your network”. On this view, you will be able to manage all your pending requests and select which one you want to withdraw.

What should you do after the candidate has accepted the connection request?

After a short note that fits your account’s limit, the next message can give more information about the job.

The details you can give are:

• What are the missions
• The salary and the benefits
• Maybe send a link to the job description

The most important is to set up a call.

Do not hesitate to follow up with the candidate after a few days if he does not answer your messages.

What if the candidate does not accept the connection request?

If the candidate does not accept the connection request, do not worry, it is not over yet. You have at least three other options:

• Send them a LinkedIn InMail. You will be able to provide more information about the job. He will also be notified by email that he has received the message
• Send him an email to his personal address. Using some tools, you may be able to find his personal email address and send him a message with more information about the job. If you work at a staffing firm, see our templates for introduction emails to clients for staffing agencies
• Find his phone number and do cold calling, just like business developers!

Leonar can help you do all of the above when you design your automated message sequences. You can automate multi-channel outreach with LinkedIn and email automation to combine connection requests, InMails, and emails in a single workflow.

For more information on Linkedin messaging, you can read our blog post on How to message candidates on Linkedin

Frequently asked questions

How many characters can a LinkedIn invitation note have?

On LinkedIn Premium, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter, a personalized invitation note can be up to 300 characters, and you can add one to every request. Free accounts are more limited: 200 characters, and only a few personalized invitations per month (LinkedIn's help center lists five, checked August 2026). Spaces, line breaks, and emojis all count toward the limit.

What counts toward the 300-character connection request limit?

Everything in the note box counts: letters, spaces, line breaks, punctuation, and emojis. LinkedIn will not let you send a note that runs over the limit, so write the message somewhere you can see the count and trim it before you paste it in. A practical target is 120 to 180 characters, which leaves room for the candidate's name and a specific reason to connect.