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LinkedIn Endorsements vs Recommendations

Posted on December 1, 2014

When it comes to your LinkedIn profile you can have both recommendations and the relatively new endorsements from your connections. However they are not of equal value.

My friend Dave Delaney said it best: “LinkedIn endorsements are a smile and a nod, while a recommendation is a hug or a high-five.”

There are a few problems with endorsements. Don’t get me wrong – I love it when someone endorses me. Having a long list of smiling faces next to the various skills on my profile gives me the warm fuzzies, but the value is somewhat lacking.

First of all, I have been endorsed for skills I either don’t want to use, or even don’t have. I’m not the only one. I frequently hear this same complaint from my clients. There are two reasons why this happens.

First, LinkedIn suggests skills you can endorse your connections with. Sometimes these recommendations are not accurate or corret.

The second and biggest problem with endorsements is that some people use them as a way to get endorsements for themselves. I’ve seen several heated discussions in Groups around this topic. Some people get genuinely angry if they endorse someone and that person doesn’t immediately endorse them back – even if these people don’t really know each other well.

This is the deep flaw I see in endorsements. For me, if my little photo is going next to a skill on your profile, I want to make darned sure that you actually have the ability to deliver that skill. When my name and photo is attached to a skill, I’m lending you a piece of my reputation. When my name is attached to a skill on your LinkedIn profile, I’m lending you a piece of my reputation. [Tweet this]

Because I know some people on LinkedIn aren’t approaching endorsements the same way, I tend to take them with a grain of salt when looking at someone else’s profile. They’re nice to see but they don’t give me a ton of information.

Recommendations are a completely different story. When I see a recommendation on someone’s profile I pay much closer attention. The person giving the recommendation had to do much more than click a button. They had to take the time to think about and write down what is so great about you. It took effort and time. They had to really want to let the world know how great you are. As a result I take recommendations much more seriously.

What do you think? Do you like LinkedIn endorsements or has their value been eroded because of how some people use them?

LinkedIn, social media

Create a better LinkedIn profile to get found more often

Posted on June 21, 2014

by Andrea J. Stenberg

What’s the secret to creating a powerful LinkedIn profile that gets found? Completing the Summary section.

I think the Summary section is possibly the most important part of your LinkedIn profile. It’s one place where you can really show off your personality – give people a taste of who you are.

Also, you may not realize that LinkedIn gives more importance to the summary than elsewhere in your profile when it comes to determining how often you show up in searches. Yes, your connections matter too but the summary is key.

Therefore a well-written summary complete with important keywords for your business can increase the likelihood that your profile shows up in a LinkedIn search.

So here are three tips to making your summary better:

1. You have 2000 characters — use all of it. Tell a story or showcase your accomplishments. Highlight new products/services. Brag about awards. Talk about how you’ve helped a client.

The experience section reads like a resume, the summary is more like a conversation. This is like your elevator pitch on steroids.

2. Make it look pretty. Never have one long block of text. Large chunks of text look ugly and are hard to read online. Create short paragraphs with a blank line between.

Although you can’t use standard formatting like bold, italics or different fonts, you can still create interest visually. Use headers with all caps and blank lines above and below to highlight sections. Use bullet points to add some additional visual interest.

3. Finally, add a way for people to contact you. Yes I know there are other places in your LinkedIn profile that include your phone number or e-mail address but you want to make it easy for people to get in touch. Don’t make someone hunt for your contact information.

If you use these tips to edit your LinkedIn profile, please come back and leave a link to your profile in the comments so I can see what you’ve done.

LinkedIn, social media, Videos