With over 560 million members globally, LinkedIn has become the go-to platform for professionals looking to build their networks and advance their careers. One unique feature of LinkedIn is the ability for members to endorse each other’s skills. But do all those endorsements actually mean anything? Let’s take a closer look.
What are LinkedIn skill endorsements?
LinkedIn allows members to add skills to their profiles, such as “Social Media Marketing” or “Project Management.” Other members who are connected can then endorse those skills by clicking an “Endorse” button. This is intended to serve as an informal verification of that member’s proficiency in that skill.
When you are endorsed for a skill, it gets added to your LinkedIn profile under a “Skills & Endorsements” section. This section shows the total number of endorsements you have received, as well as a breakdown of endorsements for each skill. Your most endorsed skills also appear near the top of your profile.
The pros of LinkedIn skill endorsements
There are a few potential benefits to racking up endorsements on LinkedIn:
- They may give your profile a stronger visual impact, especially the skills that show up near the top.
- The number of endorsements you have can signal that you have an active network.
- Receiving endorsements relevant to your industry or job target may add credibility.
- Endorsing others can help strengthen connections and relationships.
In some cases, endorsements can validate specialized skills and experience that aren’t fully captured by your work history alone. For example, if you want to showcase fluency in multiple foreign languages, endorsements from colleagues can back that up.
The cons of LinkedIn skill endorsements
On the other hand, there are also a few reasons to be skeptical of LinkedIn endorsements:
- Endorsements can be given lightly. Some people hand them out freely to network contacts without really verifying skills.
- The skills people choose to endorse may not correlate with your most important capabilities. They often focus on buzzwords instead.
- Having a high quantity of endorsements doesn’t necessarily equal quality or proficiency.
- Endorsements can become outdated, as skills can change over time.
- Some endorsements may come from connections you made years ago who don’t know your current skill level.
Essentially, endorsements demonstrate connectivity more than credibility. While they do indicate that you have relationships with people claiming knowledge of your skills, they don’t prove competence on their own.
Do LinkedIn endorsements matter for recruitment?
Perhaps the biggest question is whether LinkedIn endorsements make a difference in recruiting and hiring processes. The answer seems to depend on a few factors:
- For some roles where niche skills are paramount, relevant endorsements may provide some initial validation and be worth noting.
- When hiring managers have limited information to evaluate candidates, endorsements could influence decisions at the margins.
- The overall volume of endorsements tends to matter less than getting endorsed for the specific skills needed for a particular job.
- For senior-level roles, endorsements likely carry little weight compared to career experience and connections.
In most cases, recruiters advise treating endorsements as a supplemental data point at best. They should not be prioritized over the core elements of your LinkedIn profile like work history, education, certifications, and recommendations written by connections.
Tips for giving and getting quality endorsements
While the value of LinkedIn endorsements is debatable, they remain a platform convention and can still be used strategically. Here are some best practices:
- Endorse thoughtfully – Only endorse people for skills you can authentically validate based on experience working with them.
- Keep endorsements current – If connections change roles or responsibilities, review whether previous endorsements are still applicable.
- Focus on relevant skills – Endorse connections for skills pertaining to their desired career paths rather than generic buzzwords.
- Provide context – If feasible, include comments explaining the context behind your endorsement of a specific skill.
- Give endorsements freely – Being active in endorsing your network for skills that apply to them gives back and builds relationships.
The verdict on LinkedIn endorsements
LinkedIn endorsements can be a nice component of showcasing skills and cultivating connections, but they should not be overvalued. When used thoughtfully, endorsements may provide a credibility boost regarding niche skills that are hard to convey through traditional profile information. But in many cases, they amount to simplistic click-of-a-button interactions that lack deeper verification of capabilities.
Rather than fixating on the quantity of endorsements, focus on expanding your network, connecting with the right people, getting endorsements for directly relevant skills, and having your core competencies validated by recommendations from key connections. With the right approach, endorsements can play a supportive role in your LinkedIn presence and career advancement strategy, but they should not be the leading factor driving your profile.
Conclusion
LinkedIn endorsements can hold some value, but they should be viewed with healthy skepticism. They are easy to give and receive without any real verification, so their overall volume is a vanity metric more than anything. However, targeted endorsements from credible connections in your industry that validate specialized skills and experience can boost your credibility to some degree. Rather than trying to collect as many endorsements as possible, focus on building out the substantive sections of your profile, connecting with the right people, and getting endorsed for skills that align with your career aspirations.