A Tip on LinkedIn Recommendations

Posted by David B. Wright

August 26, 2008

I was on Twitter a moment ago and read a recent post from ATLRecruiter about recommendations on LinkedIn. She brought up the very good point (that should be obvious) that writing the exact same recommendation for 6 different people doesn’t look good for either the recommender or the recommendees. It makes the recommender look lazy, and makes each of the recommendees look as if they weren’t deemed worthy of their own, personalized recommendation.

Unfortunately, LinkedIn doesn’t really have any useful guidelines on what to include in a recommendation (at least not that I could quickly & easily find). I searched LinkedIn’s online customer service, using terms such as “recommendation tips” “recommendation guidelines” and “recommendation advice” as well as “writing recommendations” and others. Alas, nothing.

Essentially a recommendation on LinkedIn is like a condensed version of a traditional letter of recommendation, therefore should include the same major components. Here’s an outline of those components from an article on About.com

A paragraph or sentence that explains how you know this person and the duration of your relationship with them.

An evaluation of the person and their skills/accomplishments. If possible offer specific examples that illustrate the person’s strengths and qualifications.

A summary that explains why you would recommend this person and to what degree you would recommend them.

For the rest of the article, go here.

So next time you’re on LinkedIn, check your profile and re-read your recommendations. Then go to the recommender’s profile and read their other recommendations (recruiters do this). If you’ve been a victim of a lazy recommendation writer, you can either remove the recommendation, ask the person to write you a new one, or write one for them and ask them to post it for you, explaining that you understand they’re busy and wanted to make this easy for them.

To your success,

David B. Wright
Author, Get A Job! Your Guide to Making Successful Career Moves
www.thegetajobbook.com

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