When you send a connection request, it waits in the other person’s invitations list until they act on it. On your side, it shows as pending. You can find your sent invitations in the My Network area, see who has not responded yet, and withdraw any request.
What “pending” does and doesn’t tell you
The other person can accept, ignore or never open your request. Ignoring does not notify you. So a request someone dismissed and a request nobody has seen look exactly the same from your side. That is the main thing to understand: pending is not a “maybe.” After a long wait, it is usually a soft no.
Invitations you receive work the same way in reverse. They sit in your list until you accept or ignore them, and you do not owe anyone a reply.
What to do, by situation
| Situation | What we would do |
|---|---|
| You sent it recently | Wait. In the meantime, a thoughtful comment on one of their posts makes your name familiar. |
| It has been weeks with no response | Treat it as a soft no. Withdraw it if you want a tidy list. |
| You need to reach this person and it matters | Find another route: a shared group, a mutual connection who can introduce you, or InMail. |
| Many of your requests stay pending | Look at the pattern, not the individual requests. The note or the audience is probably the problem. |
| You withdrew a request and want to try again | Expect a wait. LinkedIn may not let you re-invite the same person right away. |
| Incoming requests are piling up | Accept the relevant ones, ignore the rest. |
When many requests stay pending
A long list of unanswered requests is a signal worth reading. Usually it means one of three things: the notes are generic, the people are a poor fit, or they have no reason to know who you are.
It also matters for your account. LinkedIn limits how many invitations you can send, and requests that go unanswered or get marked as “I don’t know this person” can count against you. A smaller number of well-chosen requests is the safer habit.
To find the pattern, track a few weeks of requests: who you sent them to, whether you included a note, and what happened. The free Acceptance Rate Calculator turns those numbers into a rate you can compare over time, and the acceptance rate benchmarks guide explains what to make of it.
The usual fix: a better note
The simplest improvement is a specific reason for connecting, in a sentence or two. Name what you have in common or what made you reach out. The Connection Message Generator drafts notes that fit the limit, our connection request templates give you starting points, and how to write a LinkedIn connection request has the full method.