LinkedIn Outreach Benchmarks for Human Resources (2026)

Key Takeaways

In human resources, the average LinkedIn connection acceptance rate is 30.5%. Replies to the connection note average 4.2%, and replies to a message after the connection is accepted average 9.7%. Those numbers come from 260,081 connection requests sent by 213 human resources accounts between May 2025 and April 2026. Against the cross-industry averages of 28.5%, 3.0% and 10.4%, human resources is above on acceptance and note replies and below on message replies.

Human Resources vs. the platform average

Metric	Human Resources	All industries	Difference	Rank
Connection acceptance	30.5%	28.5%	+2.0 pts	8th of 38
Connection-note reply	4.2%	3.0%	+1.2 pts	4th of 38
Message reply after acceptance	9.7%	10.4%	-0.7 pts	27th of 38

Across the 38 industries with at least 50 sending accounts, acceptance runs from 21.8% (telecommunications) to 36.5% (staffing & recruiting). Note replies run from 1.8% to 6.6%, and message replies from 7.2% to 18.9%.

What the numbers say about HR outreach

HR looks like staffing at the front and nothing like it at the back. Acceptance of 30.5% ranks 8th of 38 and note replies of 4.2% rank 4th, both well above the cross-industry figures. Then message replies of 9.7% rank 27th, below the 10.4% average. That is a 23-place fall between its best and worst measure.

The comparison with staffing and recruiting is the useful one, because the two sectors share an audience and a way of working. Staffing converts accepted connections into replies at 18.9%. HR does it at 9.7%, slightly under half, despite starting from a similar position on acceptance and notes. Whatever recruiters are doing after the connection lands, HR is not doing it.

Across 213 accounts and 260,081 requests, the end result is about 3.0 replies per 100 recipients, which is exactly the cross-industry figure. A sector that ranks 4th on notes finishing at the platform average is the same pattern as professional training and coaching, and it is the most common way a strong opening fails to matter.

If your numbers sit below these

The dataset says where an account sits, not why. From what we see in campaigns, three gaps come up most often in this sector, and they point at different problems.

Note replies under 4.2%. This sector ranks 4th of 38 on notes, so the bar is high and falling below it means underperforming a receptive audience. HR people answer notes at close to the best rate in the dataset.

Message replies under 9.7%. The sector is already 27th of 38 here, so a number below it is low in absolute terms. This is the measure that separates HR from staffing and it is the one worth working on.

Acceptance under 30.5%. The sector accepts at well above the platform rate, so a shortfall is a genuine signal rather than sector noise. HR titles are easy to over-target across company sizes that behave very differently.

Further reading: 

• Improving your LinkedIn Sales Navigator targeting
• Personalising the message request without tripping limits
• The LinkedIn message follow-up formula

Frequently asked questions

What is a good LinkedIn acceptance rate in human resources?

30.5% is the sector average, two points above the 28.5% cross-industry figure and 8th of 38 reported industries. HR accepts at an above-average rate, so 30% is par rather than good.

Do HR professionals reply to connection notes?

More than almost anyone. Human resources averages 4.2% note replies against a platform average of 3.0%, ranking 4th of 38 reported industries.

How does HR compare with staffing and recruiting?

They start in similar places and end in very different ones. HR averages 30.5% acceptance and 4.2% note replies against staffing’s 36.5% and 6.6%. But staffing converts accepted connections at 18.9% message replies while HR manages 9.7%, slightly under half.

How this data was collected

Human Resources is reported from 213 accounts and 260,081 connection requests sent between May 2025 and April 2026, drawn from the LinkedIn Outreach Benchmarks 2026 dataset of 13.2 million requests across 13,302 accounts. That report carries the full methodology, along with the breakdowns by sender seniority, company size and month that are not repeated here.

Two things to hold in mind while reading any of these figures. The industry is the sender’s, taken from their company profile, not the recipient’s. And only industries with at least 50 sending accounts are reported at all: below that, a single unusual account moves the average by several points, which is why some of the most extreme numbers in the full appendix are not published here.

Related industry benchmarks

• Design, 31.3% acceptance and 10.5% message replies
• Professional Training & Coaching, 27.4% acceptance and 8.6% message replies
• Hospital & Health Care, 27.7% acceptance and 10.6% message replies
• All industry benchmarks

Grade your own outreach against these numbers

Enter your own acceptance and reply rates and grade your outreach against the human resources benchmark, plus see where you sit among all 38 reported industries. No signup.

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Data updated 19 August 2026. Refreshed quarterly against the source report.