Having endorsements on your LinkedIn profile can certainly be beneficial, but are they an absolute necessity? The answer depends on your specific goals and how you use LinkedIn.
What are LinkedIn endorsements?
LinkedIn endorsements are a way for your connections to validate your skills and expertise. When someone endorses you, they are confirming that you have that particular skill or expertise based on their experience working with you.
For example, if we were connected on LinkedIn and have worked together on SEO writing projects, I could endorse you for skills like “SEO”, “Content Writing”, “Blogging”, etc. I would simply click the “+” sign next to your skills and choose which ones I want to endorse.
The pros of having endorsements
Here are some of the potential benefits of having endorsements on your LinkedIn profile:
- They help validate your skills and expertise to viewers
- They can improve your LinkedIn profile’s search ranking when people search for certain skills
- They make your profile look more impressive at a glance
- They can support or reinforce other credibility indicators like recommendations
Essentially, endorsements act as social proof that you actually have the skills and expertise listed on your profile according to people you’ve worked with.
The cons of having endorsements
However, there are also some potential downsides to rely too heavily on endorsements:
- Some connections may endorse you for skills you don’t actually have just to be nice
- Endorsements can be arbitrarily given without much thought by connections
- They tend to matter more for recent/current skills versus outdated ones
- They can clutter your profile and distract from other content if you have too many
- Obtaining endorsements should not replace developing real skills and expertise
The main risk is that low-value or inaccurate endorsements may not send the right message about your abilities to important profile visitors.
Do you need endorsements to have a strong LinkedIn profile?
While endorsements can be nice to have, they are not mandatory or essential for every LinkedIn user. Here are a few scenarios where endorsements may or may not be very useful:
- Job Seekers – Endorsements can help validate skills/experience to recruiters and hiring managers. But focus more on your summary, experience, and recommendations.
- Freelancers/Consultants – Endorsements are more important to showcase your skillset to potential clients.
- Business Developers – Endorsements help present well-rounded abilities to connect with partners and clients.
- Passive Candidates – Less important for those not actively searching, but still useful.
- Students/New Grads – Even a few endorsements help back up limited experience and boost credibility.
The more active you are on LinkedIn around showcasing your skills and experience, the more value endorsements can provide as supporting evidence. But they should not be the only thing you rely on.
How many LinkedIn endorsements should you aim for?
There is no specific number of endorsements that you must reach to have an “ideal” LinkedIn profile. However, having at least a few endorsements for your core skills and expertise can benefit your profile.
Rather than focusing just on the numbers, consider these quality factors:
- Who are the endorsers? Endorsements from key connections, clients, managers, etc. tend to carry more weight. Generic endorsements may not provide as much value.
- Do endorsements align with your goals? Focus on getting endorsements for the skills most relevant to your current job targets or business offerings.
- Do you reciprocate endorsements when appropriate? Endorsing your connections helps facilitate receiving endorsements in return.
You may want to aim for 5-10+ endorsements on your core skills as a reasonable benchmark. But remember that quality and relevance matter much more than just racking up high numbers.
Tips for getting quality LinkedIn endorsements
If you want to work on getting more meaningful endorsements, here are some tips:
- Connect with colleagues, clients, etc. who can endorse your current/recent skills based on experience working together.
- When requesting recommendations, also ask those people to endorse you if appropriate.
- Endorse your connections for their relevant skills to prompt reciprocity.
- Join LinkedIn groups related to your industry or interests to meet new connections.
- Engage regularly with your network by liking/commenting on content to stay on their radar.
- Give endorsements thoughtfully based on real knowledge of someone’s skills to boost credibility.
- Evaluate your profile periodically to fill any endorsement gaps for skills you want to highlight.
Developing a strong, trusting network is key to getting meaningful endorsements over time versus low-value generic endorsements.
Should you pay for LinkedIn endorsement packages?
Some services may offer to help you get hundreds or thousands of LinkedIn endorsements quickly for a fee. However, most experts recommend avoiding these types of paid endorsement packages.
While they may deliver a lot of endorsements fast, the endorsements will likely come from random connections or fake bot accounts rather than credible sources. This can actually hurt your profile credibility and trustworthiness to important visitors.
Focus instead on building an authentic network and profile that showcases your skills in multiple ways beyond just endorsements numbers.
Are LinkedIn skill assessments better than endorsements?
LinkedIn skill assessments are standardized tests you can take to validate your expertise in specific skillsets like Marketing, Sales, Leadership, Software programs, and more.
Some experts believe skill assessments carry more weight and credibility than endorsements, since you must pass a test rather than just receive a subjective endorsement.
However, assessments take more time and effort to complete. So endorsements can still play an important supporting role in showcasing your skillsets.
Here is a comparison between endorsements and skill assessments:
Factor | Endorsements | Skill Assessments |
---|---|---|
Credibility | Varies based on source | High credibility from passing test |
Effort Needed | Easy to obtain from connections | Must pass sometimes difficult tests |
Skills Covered | Broader range | More limited options |
Profile Value | Useful add-on proof | Powerful validation of skills |
The ideal approach may be using both endorsements and skill assessments together to fully showcase your expertise from different angles.
Conclusion
To summarize, endorsements can provide nice additional credibility to your skills on LinkedIn, but are likely not mandatory for every user. Focus first on having a strong profile overall that showcases your qualifications through your summary, experience, education, recommendations, projects, and other details. Then use endorsements as helpful supporting evidence of your expertise, prioritizing quality over quantity. Avoid buying fake endorsements, and complement them with skill assessments when possible.