How to find mutual connections on LinkedIn
Those clicks take about four seconds. Reading the list well is the part that decides whether you get an introduction or a polite nothing.
By Jerry Feng, Growth at Happenstance. Updated August 28, 2026.
The short version
Open the person's LinkedIn profile and read the line under their headline. "N mutual connections" is the number of people you and they've both connected with on LinkedIn. Click it to see the list. The line appears only when the person is at your second degree, and it counts LinkedIn connections and nothing else.
What the number under the headline counts
LinkedIn has more than 1 billion members in more than 200 countries (LinkedIn). The mutual connections number is a very narrow slice of that: the people who accepted a request from you and accepted one from them, on one website, at some point since you both joined.
That definition explains why the line only appears on second-degree profiles. A mutual connection is a first-degree connection you have in common, and sharing one puts somebody at your second degree by definition. If the badge says 3rd, there is no mutual connection to show.
It also explains why the number says almost nothing about access. LinkedIn counts a request accepted in 2013 the same as a colleague of eight years. Somebody can show 40 mutual connections because they spoke at a conference the same week as forty people you know, none of whom would recognize your name. Read the list rather than the count.
What the list leaves out is the bigger gap. It can't include the person you've emailed weekly since 2021 but never connected with there, the colleague who deleted their account, or the friend who met your target last month at a wedding. So the answer to “who do we both know” is never entirely on LinkedIn, and closing that gap takes a search that isn't limited to it.
Doing this with Happenstance
The mutual connections line answers one version of the question: which of my LinkedIn connections is also their LinkedIn connection. Happenstance answers the version of the question you meant. Connect Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, then ask “How am I connected to [name]?” You get every person you have in common, from every account, ranked by how well each of them knows each side, with the evidence for the ranking shown.
Happenstance is free. The free plan is the whole product, with usage limits on chat and web searches beyond your network. Pro raises the limits: unlimited web searches and results, higher chat limits, and CSV export. The product page for this is mutual connections, and what connecting the LinkedIn account itself adds is on Happenstance for LinkedIn.
The message to your mutual connection
One block, sent after they've said yes. Everything in brackets is a fact, not an adjective.
What you send the connector to forward
If the connector would rather check with the other side before sending anything, that is the double opt-in introduction, and it's the polite default among people who make introductions often. The longer version of the ask itself is in asking for a warm introduction.
What Happenstance can see
Email is read as headers only. Message content and attachments never reach our servers. Yes. Your connections are searchable only by you, the friends you accept, and the groups you join, and sharing is always mutual. Your public profile shows a constellation of named people you know by default, which you can turn off anytime. We never share, sell, or use your data to train AI models. Happenstance is SOC 2 certified and DTI Trust Level 2; the full list of what is stored and for how long is on the security page.
Frequently asked questions
How do I see mutual connections on LinkedIn?
Open the profile and look directly under the headline, next to the degree badge. LinkedIn prints a line like "Priya Raman and 12 other mutual connections". Clicking it opens people search already filtered to the people you both know, which is the list you want rather than the two faces LinkedIn shows in the preview.
Why can't I see any mutual connections with someone?
Either you have none on LinkedIn, or the person is at your third degree, where sharing a first-degree connection is impossible by definition. A hidden connections list doesn't remove the line, because LinkedIn computes the shared count from both sides. If the badge says 3rd and there's no line, no route exists on LinkedIn, which isn't the same as no route existing.
What does 2nd degree mean on LinkedIn?
A second-degree member is connected to at least one of your first-degree connections. That shared person is the mutual connection, which is why the count appears at the second degree and only there. One heavily connected person can therefore put tens of thousands of members at your second degree by themselves, which is why a mutual connection through them means very little.
Does LinkedIn tell someone when you look at their mutuals?
No. Opening the mutual connections list is a search, and searches aren't reported to anyone. Visiting the profile itself is different: unless you have switched on private mode, the person can see you in "Who viewed your profile", which is usually harmless and sometimes helpful.
How many mutual connections do you need to ask for an intro?
One good one. The count is a measure of overlap, not of willingness, and a profile showing 40 mutual connections often contains nobody who could vouch for you. Read the names, pick the person who has worked with both of you, and ignore the number.
Can you see mutual connections without being connected?
Yes. Mutual connections are visible on second-degree profiles whether or not you've ever interacted, and you don't need Premium to see them. What Premium adds is filters on the resulting list, not access to it.
Make your own luck
Join 500,000+ professionals already searching their whole network.
Continue with Google