Should You Keep LinkedIn Connections From Old Job Interviews?

If you connected with someone on LinkedIn after an interview years ago, and you never got the role, it’s completely normal to wonder whether that connection still makes sense.

Short answer: usually yes, it’s worth keeping them — but not because you owe them anything, and not because every old interview contact will become useful someday. It’s more that LinkedIn works best when you treat it like a long-term professional network, not just a short-term messaging tool.

So if your real question is, “Is this connection random and irrelevant now?” the honest answer is: sometimes it might feel that way, but professional relevance changes over time.

People move companies. Recruiters switch industries. Hiring managers become decision-makers somewhere else. A person you spoke to once about a role you didn’t get may later be connected to an opportunity, a referral, a client, a partnership, or just a useful conversation.

That said, there’s also no rule saying you need to keep every single person forever. The better question is probably this: Does keeping this connection hurt anything, and is there still a reasonable chance it could matter later?

Why keeping old interview connections usually makes sense

For most people, removing old interview contacts doesn’t provide much benefit. Keeping them is low effort, and in many cases, it helps more than it hurts.

• Professional relationships are often indirect. Not every connection needs an immediate purpose.
• People remember professionalism. Even if you didn’t get hired, a respectful interaction can leave a positive impression.
• Your careers may cross again. This happens more often than people think.
• LinkedIn is partly about visibility. Staying connected means you remain in each other’s orbit.

Think of it like this: the original reason you connected may have been the interview, but the reason you stay connected can simply be that you’re both professionals in overlapping spaces.

LinkedIn itself encourages ongoing networking, not just transactional outreach. If you want a broader view of how LinkedIn frames professional networking, their official guidance is helpful here: LinkedIn Help on growing your network.

When keeping the connection is actually useful

There are a few situations where keeping those older interview contacts makes especially good sense:

• You work in the same industry. Even if the role didn’t work out, the industry overlap still matters.
• The person is active on LinkedIn. If they post, hire, comment, or share opportunities, staying connected can be valuable.
• You had a genuinely good interaction. A positive conversation can be a reason on its own.
• You may want to reapply later. Companies and teams change. Timing matters a lot in hiring.
• You are building a thoughtful network. A strong network is not built only from close contacts.

Sometimes people assume that if an interview didn’t lead to an offer, the connection failed. But that’s not always true. Hiring decisions involve budgets, timing, internal candidates, team fit, role changes, and dozens of factors outside your control.

Not getting hired does not automatically make the connection meaningless.

When it might be fine to remove them

There are also cases where removing or quietly disconnecting is reasonable.

• The interaction felt uncomfortable or disrespectful.
• The person uses LinkedIn in a way that clutters your feed or feels spammy.
• You want a smaller, more intentional network.
• The connection no longer fits how you use LinkedIn.

You don’t need to overthink it. LinkedIn is your professional space. If a connection feels off, irrelevant, or distracting, it’s okay to clean things up.

Still, if the only reason you’re considering removing them is, “We only connected because of that interview,” that alone usually isn’t a strong reason. A lot of professional relationships begin with one specific moment.

A better question to ask yourself

Instead of asking, “Is this person relevant right now?” try asking:

• Would I be comfortable seeing their updates occasionally?
• Would I mind if they saw my career progress?
• Could our paths realistically cross again?
• Did we interact respectfully?
• Does removing them actually improve anything for me?

If most of your answers lean toward “sure” or “maybe,” there’s probably no urgent reason to remove them.

Do you need to keep in touch with them actively?

No. And this is where a lot of people get stuck.

Keeping a connection does not mean maintaining an ongoing conversation. You do not need to check in every few months. You do not need to force engagement. You do not need to pretend there’s a relationship if there really isn’t one.

It’s perfectly normal on LinkedIn to stay connected with people you rarely or never message again.

If one day there is a good reason to reconnect, you can. If not, the connection can simply remain dormant.

This is pretty aligned with broader networking advice too. Harvard Business Review has a useful perspective on keeping networks warm without being fake or overly strategic: How to Reconnect with Old Contacts.

If you do want to reconnect, keep it natural

If someone from an old interview is now at another company, hiring again, or posting about something relevant to your field, a small message can make sense.

Keep it simple. Something like:

“Hi [Name], we connected a while back when I interviewed for [role/company]. I saw your recent post/update and just wanted to say congrats on the move. Hope things are going well.”

That works because it’s light, respectful, and not demanding anything.

If you are reaching out because you’re interested in a role, you can still be direct without sounding transactional:

“Hi [Name], hope you’ve been well. We connected a few years ago when I interviewed at [company]. I noticed your team is hiring again, and the role caught my eye. I’d love to learn whether the team is still focused on [specific area].”

That feels much better than pretending you’ve been close contacts the whole time.

What this says about your LinkedIn strategy

This question is really about more than one old connection. It’s also about how you use LinkedIn overall.

Some people use LinkedIn like a living network: broad, flexible, and built over time. Others use it more selectively, keeping only people they know well. Neither approach is wrong.

What matters is being intentional.

If your network is full of people you genuinely never want to hear from again, then yes, prune it. But if you’re removing people simply because the original context has expired, you may be making your network smaller without gaining much.

A good professional network often includes:

• People you worked with directly
• Recruiters and hiring managers you met once
• People from interviews, events, and introductions
• Peers in your field
• Industry voices you respect

That kind of mix is normal. It’s actually how opportunity tends to spread.

If you want practical ideas on building a healthier professional network, this Forbes piece gives a decent overview: Ways to Build a Strong Professional Network.

So, should you keep them or not?

For most people, yes — keep the connection unless there’s a clear reason not to.

You don’t need them to be “currently relevant” in a direct way. Professional relationships age, shift, and sometimes become useful later. And even when they don’t, there’s usually little downside to staying connected with someone you had a respectful interaction with.

The main thing is this: don’t treat LinkedIn connections only as tools for one moment. A past interview may have been the reason the connection started, but it doesn’t have to be the only reason it exists.

And if years have passed and you never speak again? That’s fine too. Not every connection needs active maintenance to still be worth keeping.

Final thought

If you’re trying to figure out how to manage interview connections, recruiter relationships, or your LinkedIn network more strategically, you’re not overthinking it — you’re just noticing that digital networking gets awkward sometimes. A little structure helps.

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