Endorsements on LinkedIn can be a valuable way to build your professional brand and make connections, but only if used strategically. Here’s what you need to know about the pros, cons, and best practices for endorsements on LinkedIn.
What are LinkedIn endorsements?
LinkedIn endorsements allow you to recognize the skills and expertise of your connections. When you endorse someone, you click the “+” sign next to a skill on their profile to indicate that you believe they have that skill or expertise. The skill then appears under their name as one of their “endorsed” skills. The number next to each skill shows how many endorsements they’ve received for that skill from their connections. You can endorse connections for up to 50 skills.
The pros of LinkedIn endorsements
Used strategically, LinkedIn endorsements offer some potential benefits:
- They help build your professional brand by showcasing your skills and expertise
- They can lead to new connections and opportunities by getting your profile in front of more people
- They recognize and show appreciation for your connections’ skills
- Receiving endorsements feels good and can build confidence
In particular, endorsements can be helpful when you’re seeking a new job or clients. Prospective employers and clients may look through your endorsements to get a sense of your key skills and abilities.
The cons of LinkedIn endorsements
However, there are also some potential downsides of endorsements on LinkedIn:
- Many endorsements may be given without much thought, diminishing their value
- Skills that you aren’t actually proficient at could appear among your endorsements
- Too many endorsements, especially for skills not relevant to your goals, may look inauthentic
- Time spent giving and receiving endorsements takes away from other networking activities
The main risk is that low-value, irrelevant, or insincere endorsements may do more harm than good for your brand. Poorly chosen endorsements can give prospective employers or clients the wrong impression.
Best practices for endorsements on LinkedIn
To maximize the value of LinkedIn endorsements, keep these best practices in mind:
Be strategic with your endorsements
- Endorse only skills that you can authentically validate your connections have
- Focus on endorsing the most relevant skills for their professional goals
- Avoid blanket endorsing everyone for the same skills
- Offer thoughtful endorsements periodically as you become aware of new skills or accomplishments
Customize your profile settings
- Select your core competencies and skills you want to be endorsed for
- Hide any irrelevant skills that you don’t want endorsements for
- Set your profile to notify you when you receive endorsements so you can review and customize them
Say thank you
- Send a personal message to sincerely thank endorsers
- Endorse them back for relevant skills when possible
Monitor and prune your endorsements
- Remove endorsements that don’t align with your professional brand
- Hide skills that have attracted too many extraneous endorsements
Are LinkedIn endorsements worth it?
Here is a summary of the key pros and cons of LinkedIn endorsements:
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Overall, endorsements can be worth it if you use them strategically. The key is being selective, customizing your profile, thanking endorsers, and pruning irrelevant endorsements. Used with care, endorsements can enhance your professional brand and open new doors.
However, bulk and indiscriminate endorsement behavior provides little value. Passive endorsement accumulation can even be detrimental if it showcases an unfocused or exaggerated skillset.
Tips for getting value from LinkedIn endorsements
Here are some tips to maximize the value of the LinkedIn endorsements you give and receive:
Giving valuable endorsements
- Slow down – take the time to review someone’s profile and think about your endorsement
- Endorse core competencies that you’ve seen the person demonstrate
- Focus on skills relevant to their professional brand and goals
- Provide context on how you’ve seen the person demonstrate the skill
- Follow up your endorsement with a supportive message
Cultivating quality endorsements
- Update your profile with your most important current skills
- Thank endorsers and endorse them back for relevant skills
- Ask colleagues who know your strengths for endorsements
- Be active in LinkedIn groups to showcase your expertise
- Message connections asking them to endorse you for specific skills, if appropriate
Filtering endorsements
- Delete irrelevant or inaccurate endorsements
- Hide little used skills to reduce unwanted endorsements
- Turn off skill suggestions to control endorsements
- Use endorsements settings to review endorsements before they appear
Conclusion
LinkedIn endorsements can enhance your professional reputation and open doors when used strategically. But low-value, excessive endorsements can also dilute your brand. By being selective and proactive about your endorsements, you can maximize their power. Focus on quality over quantity, customize your settings, and prune unwanted endorsements to get the most value.
Used carefully, endorsements are worth integrating into your broader LinkedIn networking and profile management strategy. But beware of passive endorsement behavior that does little to build genuine professional connections or demonstrate real skill mastery.