LinkedIn Endorsements – Good Idea or Not?

You’ve probably received from and possibly given endorsements to LinkedIn contacts. So what does it feel like when you receive one? Is the endorser actually hitting the target with what your skills are? Do you consider the endorsement valid, given the sender’s experience of you?

LinkedIn has made it so easy to just click here, and click here and … click here, too, that endorsements can lose their value.

So, don’t endorse strangers. I have received almost a dozen endorsements from a person I don’t even know and it makes me mistrust his motives. If you endorse too many and too frivolously, the value of any single endorsement is watered down – in your mind, and potentially in the recipient’s mind. If you sincerely want to give a supplier or associate a testimonial, write a Recommendation.

Here’s how: While logged on, go to the person’s LinkedIn page, and to the right of their picture will be the option to Recommend them. This allows you to write a unique testimonial, which is then emailed to your contact for their approval and acceptance. The result is a specific testimonial that tells readers not only that you “like” them, but why.

And that is one powerful testimonial!