LinkedIn Recommendations

YOUR LINKEDIN QUESTIONS ANSWERED!

Do you have questions about your LinkedIn profile or how to use LinkedIn? Send your questions to our LinkedIn Expert Debbie McCormick and she’ll answer them in the magazine! Use info@LinkedInBossLady.com with subject Dear Debbie.

Dear Debbie:

A co-worker has sent me a request for a recommendation on LinkedIn, but I’ve never written one.  What kind of information should I include?

                                                                                                                                ~ Martina B.

This is a great question, Martina, thank you. I know lots of readers would love help with this.

Let me preface my answer by saying two things:

1.        That a recommendation can be requested from and given to only your first degree connections, meaning the people with whom you are directly connected.

This is to make sure that when someone reads a recommendation on a profile, the reader can be sure that the two people have actually had a working relationship.

LinkedIn requires that you state your working relationship to the person for whom you’re writing the recommendation and to designate what company you worked for when you had this relationship.

Let me give you an example for your question:

I open my profile and scroll down to the section called Recommendations then click on the arrow, which allows you to edit in that section.

(This differs enormously from Endorsements, which can be given to strangers on any skill, if you can believe that – those I don’t take seriously.)

1.        That if you don’t feel the person deserves a recommendation, then decline or ignore the request. Normally someone won’t ask you to recommend them or their work if they’re not fairly sure you’re going to be complimentary.

Now, to your question: what you write depends on the relationship you had.

For example, if she was your student or a mentee, comment on:

1.        How open to learning

2.       Her quick grasp of what you were teaching

Whereas, if she was your mentor or you were her client:

1.        How well she knew her subject

2.       How well she communicated

3.       Was it fun to learn from her?

Everyone appreciates the more general comments too, as in how easy she was to work with/for.