LinkedIn recommendations are an important part of building your professional profile and establishing your credibility. When someone recommends you on LinkedIn, it provides a form of social proof and endorsement for your skills, accomplishments and work ethic. But in order for a recommendation to appear on your profile, it has to go through an approval process. So do recommendations on LinkedIn have to be approved before they are visible to others?
The short answer is yes, LinkedIn recommendations do need to be approved before they will appear on your profile. LinkedIn has this approval system in place to ensure the integrity and authenticity of recommendations. This prevents people from artificially inflating their profiles with disingenuous or overly flattering recommendations.
When someone recommends you on LinkedIn, you will receive a notification informing you of the new recommendation. You can then choose to accept or decline the recommendation. Unless you actively accept the recommendation, it will remain pending and not visible to people viewing your profile. This gives you control over what recommendations are displayed on your behalf.
The LinkedIn Recommendation Process
Here is an overview of how the LinkedIn recommendation process works:
Someone Recommends You
The process starts when a LinkedIn connection writes and submits a recommendation for you. They can do this by going to your profile and clicking on the “Recommend” button. This opens up a text box where they can write and submit their recommendation.
You Receive a Notification
Once the recommendation is submitted, you will receive a notification informing you that someone has recommended you. This notification will appear in your LinkedIn homepage feed and inbox.
You Review the Recommendation
Clicking on the notification will take you to the pending recommendation. You can then read what the person wrote about you and review their recommendation.
You Accept or Decline
At this stage, you have the option to accept or decline the recommendation. If you accept, the recommendation will now appear on your profile for others to view. If you decline, the recommendation will be discarded and never made public.
The Recommender Receives Confirmation
Once you have either accepted or declined the recommendation, the person who recommended you will receive confirmation letting them know if their recommendation was accepted or declined. This completes the process.
Why Recommendations Must Be Approved
Requiring approval for recommendations accomplishes a few important things for LinkedIn:
Maintains Authenticity
The approval requirement helps maintain authenticity and credibility of recommendations. Without approvals, it would be easy for people to stack recommendations with exaggerated or misleading praise. The approval system acts as a vetting mechanism to preserve the integrity of recommendations.
Gives Recommendees Control
The approval system also gives members control over their profiles. You have the autonomy to decide which recommendations best represent you. You can decline recommendations that are poorly written, outdated or from connections with whom you do not want to be associated.
Discourages Abuse
An approval requirement discourages LinkedIn members from abusing the recommendations feature. For example, requiring approvals prevents a disgruntled colleague or former boss from filling your profile with negative or unethical recommendations. The approval system provides a layer of protection against abuse.
Upholds Privacy
Finally, requiring approvals enables members to uphold their privacy preferences. Even if someone recommends you, those recommendations will remain private until you actively opt to publish them on your profile. This allows you to control the visibility and maintain privacy over your profile.
What Happens When You Decline a Recommendation?
Declining a LinkedIn recommendation is easy to do with just the click of a button. But what actually happens after you decline? Here are a few key things:
Recommendation is Deleted
First, declining a recommendation will permanently delete it from LinkedIn’s system. The recommendation text and any images or files attached to the recommendation will be removed.
Recommender is Notified
The person who submitted the recommendation will receive notification that you have declined their recommendation. This prevents any confusion about why their recommendation is not appearing on your profile.
No Public Record
Importantly, there will be no public record that the recommendation was ever submitted. Other users will not be able to see any evidence that a recommendation was written and declined. It will be as if the recommendation never existed.
Can Be Resubmitted
The user who wrote the declined recommendation has the option to revise and resubmit it. However, they would have to go through the writing and approval process again.
Cannot be Retrieved
Once declined, neither you nor the recommender can retrieve the original recommendation. The only option is for the recommender to write and submit an entirely new recommendation.
So in summary, declining a recommendation results in it being permanently deleted with no public trace. This gives you full control over which recommendations you want to be visible on your profile.
Does Declining a Recommendation Offend the Recommender?
Some LinkedIn users may hesitate to decline recommendations because they fear offending or upsetting the person who recommended them. However, in most cases a declined recommendation should not cause offense or damage the relationship. Here are a few reasons why:
It’s Impersonal
The LinkedIn platform makes the process very impersonal. The person is notified automatically by LinkedIn that the recommendation was declined. You don’t have to provide any explanation yourself.
Recommendations Expire
LinkedIn also sets all recommendations to expire after 1 year. This gives users an easy, non-confrontational way to rotate out older recommendations periodically.
Professional vs. Personal
A recommendation is a professional endorsement, not a personal judgment. Declining a recommendation should not be taken as a personal insult or sleight.
Room for Revision
The recommender has the option to update and resubmit their recommendation. This allows them a chance to improve the quality and relevance of their endorsement.
Preserves Relationships
Being judicious about which recommendations you display ultimately preserves professional relationships. It is better to decline a recommendation than to let a bad one linger.
In general, not accepting a LinkedIn recommendation should not cause hard feelings as long as it is handled appropriately. Simply declining with no other actions is usually sufficient.
How to Gracefully Decline a LinkedIn Recommendation
If you want to soften the blow of declining a LinkedIn recommendation, here are some tactful ways to handle it:
Send a Private Message
Consider sending the recommender a polite private message explaining your reasoning for declining. Thank them for taking the time to write a recommendation, acknowledge their intentions, and provide context around why the recommendation wasn’t ideal for your profile at this time.
Offer to Reconnect Offline
For recommendations from closer connections, offer to discuss it further offline. Schedule a quick phone call or coffee meeting to talk through the recommendation and your hopes for it in more depth. This makes the declination feel less impersonal.
Provide Actionable Feedback
If applicable, provide some constructive feedback that the recommender could use to improve their recommendation in the future. For example, you might explain that the skills mentioned no longer align with your current role and expertise.
Ask to Revise Together
For recommendations that just need a little tweaking, you could offer to sit down together and update the language to better match what you are looking for. Making it a collaborative process prevents any hard feelings.
Thank Them Anyway
No matter what, express gratitude that they thought of you and took the initiative to write something. A little courtesy can help preserve the relationship even if you don’t accept the recommendation.
Professional Etiquette for LinkedIn Recommendations
LinkedIn recommendations are most effective and harmless when basic professional etiquette is followed. Here are some best practices:
Keep it Factual
Avoid overly emotional language or exaggerations. Stick to facts and objective assessments of the person’s work. Hyperbole can damage your own credibility.
Proofread Carefully
Be sure to thoroughly proofread a recommendation before submitting. Check for spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, or anything that might reflect poorly on you or the recipient.
Keep it Current
Only provide recommendations that are relevant to the person’s current role and status. Old, outdated recommendations should be refreshed or removed.
Check Before Submitting
Politely ask the recipient if they are comfortable receiving a recommendation from you before you submit it unprompted.
Reciprocate Thoughtfully
If someone writes you a recommendation, consider writing one in return. But only recommend them honestly and for recent interactions.
Respond to Declines
If your recommendation is declined, respond graciously. Consider asking for feedback on how to improve.
Following basic etiquette helps ensure LinkedIn recommendations are valuable for everyone’s career growth.
Conclusion
LinkedIn’s recommendation approval process provides an important layer of control and protection for members’ profiles. Requiring recommendations to be accepted before publishing enables professionals to curate which endorsements appear on their behalf. Individuals can decline any recommendations that are misleading, unethical or no longer relevant. While it is always best to handle declines tactfully, recipients should not take them personally as long as LinkedIn’s guidelines are followed. With the ability to provide anonymous feedback and resubmit recommendations, the approval process ultimately facilitates more authentic and ethical professional endorsements.