LinkedIn recommendations can be a great way to showcase your skills, build your professional brand, and help others in your network. However, before giving or receiving a recommendation, it’s important to understand how they work and who can view them.
Who can see your LinkedIn recommendations?
By default, your LinkedIn recommendations are public and viewable by anyone. However, you do have some control over the visibility of recommendations you’ve received:
- Profile recommendations – These recommendations appear on your profile and are visible to anyone who views your profile.
- Skill recommendations – These are attached to specific skills on your profile. They are public by default but can be made private.
So in most cases, any LinkedIn user can see the recommendations others have written for you. The exception is skill recommendations that you’ve chosen to make private. These would only be visible to you and the person who wrote the recommendation.
Making your skill recommendations private
You may not want every recommendation to be public, especially for certain skills you don’t want everyone knowing about. Here’s how to make your skill recommendations private on LinkedIn:
- Go to your profile and click “View profile”
- Scroll down and click “See all details”
- Under Skills, click the “Manage” button next to the skill you want to edit
- Toggle the setting for “Make (Person’s Name)’s recommendations private for this skill” to “Yes”
- The recommendations under this skill will now only be visible to you and the recommenders
Making a skill recommendation private does not notify the person who wrote it or remove it from their profile. It simply hides it from public view on your own profile.
Why keep recommendations public?
There are a few good reasons you may want to keep your LinkedIn recommendations public rather than private:
- They help showcase your skills and experience
- They can make your profile more impressive and credible
- They may attract opportunities if connections see someone has endorsed you
- They help build your professional brand and reputation
Public recommendations serve as social proof and validation for your abilities. They give connections and potential opportunities more insight into your capabilities.
Reasons to make some recommendations private
However, there are also some cases where you may want to keep certain recommendations private:
- If they are for skills irrelevant to your current goals or the impression you want to give
- If they are from connections you no longer want to be associated with
- If they mention confidential company or client information
- If they are for skills you only wanted a few close connections to know about
The key is being strategic about which recommendations you make public vs private based on what helps build the personal brand and professional image you want.
Who can see recommendations you’ve written?
Any recommendations you’ve written for your connections are visible on their profiles to any LinkedIn user. There’s no way to make these private or anonymous.
If the person you gave a recommendation to makes one of their skill recommendations private, it will no longer be visible on their profile to the public. But it will still appear on your own profile as a recommendation you’ve given.
Best practices for giving recommendations
To get the most value from LinkedIn recommendations, it’s important to follow best practices when giving and receiving them:
- Only recommend people you know well professionally and can endorse authentically
- Include detailed, specific examples of the person’s skills and impact
- Tailor recommendations to each individual rather than copying a generic template
- Recommend a variety of connections, not just those who have recommended you
- Reply back with a recommendation when someone endorses you, when appropriate
- Keep your recommendations updated by removing ones that are no longer relevant
Conclusion
In summary, LinkedIn recommendations you’ve received are publicly visible by default, except for skill recommendations you choose to make private. Any recommendations you’ve given to others will appear on their profiles for all to see. Being strategic about which skills you showcase publicly vs privately can help shape the professional image you want to present.
Recommendation Type | Default Visibility | Can Make Private |
---|---|---|
Profile Recommendations | Public | No |
Skill Recommendations | Public | Yes |
Recommendations You’ve Given | Public | No |
Following best practices around authenticity, relevance, and reciprocity will help ensure your recommendations and those you give others have the optimal professional impact.