In the modern job market, LinkedIn has become an essential platform for networking and promoting yourself professionally. An important part of cultivating your LinkedIn presence is getting recommendations from previous managers, colleagues, clients, and others you’ve worked with. But are LinkedIn recommendations really worth the effort? Do potential employers or clients even look at them? Let’s take a closer look.
The Purpose of LinkedIn Recommendations
LinkedIn recommendations are written statements where someone endorses your skills, work ethic, or value you brought to a project or job. The goals are:
- Validate your qualifications and expertise
- Provide social proof of your capabilities
- Strengthen your professional brand
Essentially, LinkedIn recommendations help paint a picture that you are a competent, skilled, and reliable worker that future employers or clients should consider hiring or partnering with.
Do People Really Read LinkedIn Recommendations?
This is an important question. After all, if nobody actually looks at your recommendations, then they serve little purpose. Here are some key considerations:
- According to LinkedIn, members with at least 5 recommendations are 20 times more likely to be contacted by recruiters.
- Around 80% of hiring managers check a candidate’s LinkedIn profile before an interview, with many closely examining recommendations.
- For high-level or competitive roles, recommendations can differentiate you from other qualified applicants.
- The more personalized and detailed the recommendation, the more value it generally provides.
- Weaker recommendations that just say “John was a great employee” won’t carry much weight.
So in summary, yes, recommendations are widely viewed and considered, especially for prominent roles where assessing the candidate’s capabilities and fit is critical. They provide validation not easily found elsewhere.
Who Should Write Your LinkedIn Recommendations?
To maximize the impact of your recommendations, be strategic about who endorses you. Ideal people to request LinkedIn recommendations from include:
- Former managers who can speak directly about your performance, skills, and impact.
- Colleagues who worked closely with you and can vouch for your teamwork, leadership, etc.
- Long-time clients who value the service you provided.
- Well-respected figures in your industry whose endorsement carries influence.
- Avoid asking family, friends, or acquaintances just to boost your recommendation numbers.
Striving for variety in your recommenders is also wise. If eight past colleagues all say you’re talented but your former boss contradicts this, it raises questions.
How Many Recommendations Should You Have?
Is there an ideal number of LinkedIn recommendations to appear qualified and endorseable? Here are some benchmarks to aim for:
- 5-10 recommendations – Sufficient for most professionals
- 10-15 recommendations – Impressive for managers and seasoned employees
- 15+ recommendations – Reserved for well-connected execs and leaders
Of course, quality matters more than pure quantity. A handful of detailed, enthusiastic recommendations often means more than 15 generic blurbs saying you were a “good employee.”
Should You Recommend Back Everyone Who Endorses You?
Once you start requesting LinkedIn recommendations, you’ll inevitably receive some reciprocal requests from your endorsers. At first glance, this seems fair – you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. However, indiscriminately recommending people just because they recommended you dilutes the value of your endorsements.
Be selective about who you recommend in return. The person should be someone you genuinely worked with and can enthusiastically validate. Decline requests politely if you cannot authentically recommend the person.
Can You Recommend Yourself on LinkedIn?
No, LinkedIn specifically prohibits recommendations written by yourself. Any self-recommendations will be rejected or removed. The entire premise of LinkedIn recommendations relies on third-party validation.
Recommendation Etiquette
Here are some best practices to follow when requesting and writing LinkedIn recommendations:
- First ask people privately if they’re willing, rather than putting them on the spot with a public endorsement request.
- Provide recommenders with background on your current goals and position being sought.
- Give them specifics on skills, accomplishments, or traits you want highlighted.
- Make the process easy by writing a recommendation draft they can then customize.
- Offer to reciprocate the favor with your own recommendation of them.
- Follow up and express appreciation when received.
- Proofread carefully before publishing recommendations you write for others.
Being thoughtful and gracious goes a long way in earning quality recommendations.
Can You Remove or Edit a LinkedIn Recommendation?
Yes, it’s possible to delete or revise a recommendation you have received or written for someone else.
To remove a recommendation you received:
- Go to your LinkedIn profile and click the Recommendations section
- Hover over the recommendation and click the “Remove” button
- Confirm that you want to delete the recommendation
To delete a recommendation you wrote for someone:
- Go to the profile of the person you recommended
- Under their Recommendations section, hover and click “Remove”
- Verify you want to withdraw the recommendation
You can also request the person edit your recommendation they wrote. But you cannot directly edit recommendations received.
Are Recommendations More Important Than Skills or Experience?
Here is how most hiring managers and recruiters prioritize candidate information on LinkedIn:
- Work experience – Roles and responsibilities
- Skills – Technical abilities and knowledge
- Education – Degrees, certifications, training
- Recommendations – Validations from others
So while recommendations matter, they typically come behind concrete skills, qualifications, and work history. Powerful recommendations reinforce your credibility but cannot substitute for proven expertise.
Should You Display Your LinkedIn Recommendation Counts Publicly?
LinkedIn gives you the option to publicly showcase the number of recommendations you’ve received on your profile. This provides a form of social proof. However, it’s generally best not to enable this public endorsement count.
Here’s why:
- Can appear like bragging or overcompensation if the numbers seem inflated
- Draws attention to how few written recommendations the user might have
- Comes across as asking for endorsements just to boost the count
- Quality of recommendations more important than quantity
You’re better off letting your recommendations speak for themselves. Don’t shift focus to the counts.
Do LinkedIn Recommendations Expire?
Unlike job skills which need re-verification after a certain period, LinkedIn recommendations do not have an expiration date. Once published, recommendations remain on your profile indefinitely unless the author or recipient removes them.
However, outdated recommendations from past jobs and colleagues may appear stale over time. It’s a good practice to politely ask old connections to either refresh their recommendation or remove it if no longer relevant.
Can LinkedIn Recommendations Be Faked or Misleading?
Unfortunately, yes. Since LinkedIn does not verify recommendations, it is possible for users to:
- Write fake recommendations for themselves using a friend’s account
- Exaggerate someone’s skills or experience in a disingenuous recommendation
- Use paid services to generate manufactured recommendations
LinkedIn relies on algorithms and user reporting to detect and remove policy-violating recommendations. But some fabricated endorsements still slip through.
View overly flattering recommendations with healthy skepticism. Focus more on endorsements from credible sources you can verify.
Should You Include LinkedIn Recommendations on Your Resume?
In most cases, you should not list your LinkedIn recommendations on your resume or CV. Here are some reasons why:
- They contain information irrelevant to your resume
- Harder for applicant tracking systems (ATS) to parse recommendations
- Takes up valuable resume real estate
- Hiring managers may not take time to read full recommendations
- Links to LinkedIn profile better than cramming recommendations
Instead, summarize key skills and qualifications endorsed by past employers and colleagues directly in your work history bullet points. Use the extra space for more detail on your positions and accomplishments.
Can You Export LinkedIn Recommendations?
If you wish to save an archive of the recommendations you’ve received, LinkedIn provides a way to export them:
- Go to your profile and click “More” next to the Recommendations section
- Select the option to request an archive of your recommendations
- LinkedIn will email you a download link when ready, usually within 24 hours
- The archive file will contain the full text of all recommendations
You also have the ability to download a PDF copy of your entire LinkedIn profile, which will include the recommendations visible on your page.
Should You Include Recommendations in a LinkedIn Background Check?
More employers are performing formal LinkedIn background checks on candidates as part of the hiring screening process. This involves examining the person’s entire LinkedIn profile for any red flags or inconsistencies.
When conducting a professional LinkedIn background check, the recommendations received can provide key insights:
- Any concerning behaviors or performance issues brought up
- Consistency of skill sets endorsed
- Quality and depth of recommendations
- Authenticity of the endorsements
- Alignment with candidate’s stated qualifications
So long as the recommendations are credible, they tend to boost a candidate’s legitimacy and hireability. But low-quality, scant, or questionable recommendations may raise eyebrows if not consistent with rest of background.
What Should You Do if Someone Declines Your LinkedIn Recommendation Request?
Don’t take it personally if a connection declines your request for a LinkedIn recommendation. There are many valid reasons someone may not be comfortable endorsing you, such as:
- They don’t feel they know your work well enough to recommend
- Too busy to take the time to write something
- Don’t want to participate in “recommendation swapping”
- Uncertain about professional etiquette of recommendations
Everyone has their own preferences and criteria for writing recommendations. Respect their decision graciously, maintain the relationship, and look for other endorsements. Focus on getting one great recommendation rather than several mediocre ones.
Key Takeaways on Maximizing LinkedIn Recommendations
To recap, here are the main tips for leveraging LinkedIn recommendations:
- Strategically request recommendations from managers, colleagues, clients who know you well
- Provide guidance to recommenders on key aspects to highlight
- Aim for 5-15 quality recommendations speaking to your strengths
- Craft thoughtful recommendations in return but don’t just recommend back everyone
- Keep recommendations up-to-date and remove obsolete ones
- Spotlight recommendations in your LinkedIn summary rather than overemphasizing counts
- Mention key recommendation themes from LinkedIn profile in resume
- View recommendations critically through the lens of a background check
Used properly, LinkedIn recommendations give hiring managers and clients third-party validation about the value you offer. They complement the rest of your profile and credentials. Recommendations aren’t everything, but they certainly help strengthen your professional reputation when done right.
Conclusion
LinkedIn recommendations can positively impact your career advancement and hiring prospects if leveraged strategically. While not a replacement for actual skills and experience, quality recommendations from respected sources lend credibility to your qualifications and personal brand. Curate recommendations judiciously, focus on substance over quantity, and keep them current. Used properly, they demonstrate others valued working with you and endorse your future potential. Recommendations matter – just make sure they’re recommendations worth having.