The Surprising Rise of LinkedIn as an Unlikely Matchmaker
When Rachel Wong received a connection request on LinkedIn from Sam Sawchuck, she wasn’t sure what to make of it. He mentioned they probably had mutual contacts and suggested grabbing coffee—then admitted, somewhat sheepishly, that he had first noticed her on Tinder.
Was this a date?
For Wong, the answer turned out to be yes. Exhausted by the relentless swiping of conventional dating apps, a growing number of people are turning to LinkedIn in their search for romance. Even though the platform’s rules explicitly prohibit romantic advances, it’s becoming more common for the professional networking site to play a role—whether directly or indirectly—in users’ love lives.
A survey by resume platform Zety found that roughly one in four professionals believe using LinkedIn as a dating tool can be acceptable, and 22% said they had either reached out or responded to someone on the site with romantic intent.
Wong, laughing, admits she showed the request to her coworkers. That turned out to be a smart move—her colleagues vouched for Sawchuck’s character. After checking out his profile, she saw he moved in similar professional circles, seemed driven, and was also attractive. She accepted his request and kept things professional, asking if he could help her think through a work problem.
Now, years into their relationship, the couple is shopping for wedding venues. “If it was LinkedIn, so be it,” Wong said. “He’s been the best connection I’ve ever made.”
A New Kind of Dating Pool
Growing fatigue with dating apps has pushed many singles to explore alternatives—speed dating, shared real-world hobbies, even spreadsheets designed to outsmart dating algorithms. So it’s little surprise that a public platform featuring polished headshots and detailed career histories—exactly what modern dating apps often lack—has become an unexpected tool in the quest for love.
Dating coach Jaime Bronstein supports using LinkedIn with romantic intentions, but stresses that initial messages should always appear professional and never overtly romantic. She recommends crafting notes that maintain a networking pretext while leaving room for ambiguity. Pickup lines to avoid? “Are you single?” comes across as aggressive and potentially creepy. “I hope this isn’t too weird, but…” plants doubt. And “You’re gorgeous!” feels inappropriate on a professional platform.
LinkedIn itself does not condone such behavior. “Our focus is on making sure that people are safe from unwanted romantic advances,” a spokesperson said.
From Networking to Something More
After her internship ended, Esme Gordon-Craig used LinkedIn to reconnect with a former colleague, suggesting they continue their conversation about career paths over drinks. He picked a pub near the office. Once they were outside with a pint, he asked, “This is a date, isn’t it?” She admitted it was.
Gordon-Craig, a 24-year-old freelance journalist in London, still uses LinkedIn regularly to build connections—professional, social, and occasionally romantic—that she lacks easy access to without a traditional office environment. “If there’s a spark, then it’s great,” she said. “And if there’s not, then it’s just a good networking opportunity.”
The site also serves as a vetting tool. Katie Istomin, a rising sophomore at Cornell, wants to ensure anyone she spends time with matches her ambition and understands her busy schedule. “LinkedIn kind of solves that for you,” she said, noting she checks prospects’ majors and club involvement. “You know where they’re going, that they’re high-achieving—stuff like that.”
But browsing profiles isn’t exactly discreet. LinkedIn notifies users when someone views their page, which can either help or hinder dating plans. One of Istomin’s sorority sisters created a burner account so they could assess profiles anonymously. “LinkedIn’s low-key a snitch for that,” Istomin joked about the alerts.
A Boss Couple in the Making
San Diego financial adviser Amal Hagisufi was simply recruiting for an open role when she sent a connection request to Moustafa Madkaur. “Being in banking, I got these recruitment messages all the time,” Madkaur said. He initially ignored her—until she persisted. He responded that the office, 40 minutes away, was too far.
But when Madkaur later spotted Hagisufi on the dating site Plenty of Fish, he reconsidered. Her LinkedIn profile showed someone “career focused, looking to grow as a person,” he said. “And you kind of got a feel that she was possibly looking for someone else to start building and growing with.”
He sent a new message over LinkedIn, this time including his phone number. He told Hagisufi he still wasn’t interested in the job, but had seen her on a dating site—and if she wanted to go out sometime, she should text him. “It was way more smooth than the way I had been previously approached on the dating apps,” Hagisufi said.
A date, it turned out, was a much better reason to make the trek across town. Madkaur took her to a waterfront restaurant where they discussed professional, financial, and personal goals. “Everything was aligning,” Hagisufi said. “We knew that we wanted to grow together and become, like, a boss couple.”