Favor Test is a test you take to decide whether to accept or decline, add requests from unknown users on LinkedIn. When you’re new on LinkedIn, with only 20-25 connections, you might want to add anybody who sends you add-requests so that you’re connected to more professionals on LinkedIn in a short period of time. Accepting people randomly or sending out connection requests randomly, might connect you to many more professionals but doesn’t guarantee you quality connections.
The basic reason why we join LinkedIn is for jobs, useful connections, articles related to our work, etc. LinkedIn is a professional social media website and we mustn’t forget this while connecting with people on the website. It is highly recommended to accept add-requests from and send add-requests to, only those who are related to us on professional grounds, and those whom we can work with for better prospects.
The favor test is a confusion solver. You will not find much info regarding the test on LinkedIn because LinkedIn doesn’t conduct this test for you. There are no forms to be filled, etc., you conduct the favor test according to your own understanding of the situation and the person who has sent you the add request or the person you think you should add. Before you send this request to the person, ask yourself the favor question, “Would you do any favor for this person or would this person do favors for you?” The answer should come in a simple Yes/No way. If “Yes” is the answer, you must add the person or sent this person a request to add you as a connection. And if the answer is “No”, turn away from that profile, because it is no use adding people who will not come into use for you.
Never mind if you work as a software engineer and this rejected profile was of a famous novelist. If he/she cannot help you out professionally, it is no point building up an unproductive connections network. Your LinkedIn connection network must support your professional goals. The website’s actual objective is to help professionals grow in their profession, find help from other professionals, find better jobs, know more about their professional life, compare themselves with other professionals in the same field. It is a misconception that LinkedIn is just another social networking website, because it is not. It is not a place you can chat all day with your connections; you’re allowed to send mail as and when necessary.
When you use favor test to take decisions, you help yourself as well as the other person. If you’re not going to do favors for this person, neither will he do favors for you. These days almost everybody on LinkedIn does the mental favor test before accepting or sending out requests to people on the website.The favor test helps you build the right network of connections. It doesn’t matter if you have less number of connections what actually matters, is the fact that you are connected to the right people.