LinkedIn endorsements allow you to recognize the skills and expertise of your connections. When someone endorses you, it appears on your LinkedIn profile and helps showcase your abilities to viewers. Knowing who has endorsed you can be useful for maintaining your professional relationships and identifying key supporters. This article will provide an overview of how to check your LinkedIn endorsements and see who has validated your skills.
Viewing Endorsements on Your Profile
The easiest way to check if someone has endorsed you on LinkedIn is to view your own profile. Follow these steps:
- Go to your LinkedIn homepage and click on your profile image in the top navigation bar.
- This will bring you to your public profile page. Scroll down to the “Skills & Endorsements” section.
- Here you will see a list of your top skills and expertise. To the right of each skill, there is a number indicating how many endorsements you have received for that skill.
- Click on the skill name or the number of endorsements to expand the list of people who have endorsed you.
This section makes it simple to get a quick overview of who has endorsed your various skills. You can instantly see if someone specific has validated your abilities.
Using the Endorsements Page
In addition to viewing endorsements on your profile, LinkedIn also has a dedicated Endorsements page where you can see a full list of everyone who has endorsed you.
To access it:
- Click on the “Me” icon in the top navigation bar.
- Select “Profile & Visibility” from the dropdown menu.
- Choose “View profile” from the options.
- In the right sidebar of your profile, click on “More…” under the Endorsements section.
This will open the full Endorsements page, displaying all of the people who have endorsed you, as well as sorting endorsements by skill. From here, you can easily browse all of the endorsements you’ve received.
Filtering and Sorting Endorsements
The Endorsements page also allows you to filter and sort your list of endorsements in different ways:
- Filter by skill: Use the dropdown menu at the top of the page to view endorsements for a specific skill.
- Filter by date: Select a timeframe like “Past week” or “Past month” to view more recent endorsements.
- Sort by endorser: Click the menu to sort your endorsements alphabetically by the names of the endorsers.
Using these options, you can narrow down your endorsements and analyze them from different angles.
Seeing Endorsement Notifications
In addition to actively checking your endorsements, you will also be notified when someone endorses you:
- You will receive an email notification telling you who endorsed you and for which skill.
- The endorsement will show up in your LinkedIn notifications and homepage feed.
- On your profile, newly received endorsements are marked as “New” for your first week.
So even without regularly tracking your endorsements page, you will be informed when someone endorses your abilities.
Thanking Endorsers
Once you know who has endorsed your skills, you may want to reach out to thank them. This helps build your professional relationships.
Here are some tips for thanking LinkedIn endorsers:
- Send an endorsement back to return the favor.
- Write a customized LinkedIn message thanking them for the endorsement.
- Like or comment on their LinkedIn posts to show your appreciation.
- Mention the endorsement when you interact with them in-person.
- Offer to provide recommendations or endorsements for them in the future.
Taking the time to thank your colleagues for endorsing you can go a long way in strengthening your connections.
Removing Endorsements
While most endorsements are welcome, there may be cases where you want to delete an endorsement:
- The endorsement is for an unrelated or inaccurate skill.
- The endorsement is from someone you don’t want associated with your profile.
- You want to refresh your endorsements after a career change.
To remove an endorsement:
- Go to your LinkedIn Endorsements page.
- Hover over the endorsement you want to delete and click the “X” icon.
- Confirm that you want to remove the endorsement.
The endorsement will be deleted from your profile. Note that the endorser will not be notified when you remove their endorsement.
Disabling Endorsements
If you want to permanently switch off endorsements on your account, you can do so in your profile settings:
- Go to your profile and click “Edit public profile & URL” in the top right.
- Click on “Show/Update Preferences” at the bottom of the page.
- Under “Profile Visibility”, uncheck the box for “Show endorsements on my profile”.
- Click “Save changes” at the bottom of the page.
This will remove endorsements from your profile so no one can endorse you moving forward. You can toggle them back on any time.
Using Endorsements Strategically
Here are some tips for gaining endorsements that strengthen your brand on LinkedIn:
- Endorse connections for relevant skills to encourage reciprocal endorsements.
- Remind colleagues about your expertise when appropriate.
- Thank new connections for endorsing you. This reminds them of your skills.
- Join LinkedIn Groups aligned with your professional skills.
- Engage consistently with your network by liking and commenting on posts.
Strategically maintaining your presence on LinkedIn can organically lead to more endorsements over time.
The Value of LinkedIn Endorsements
While LinkedIn endorsements don’t verify your skills, they do hold value in a few key ways:
- Endorsements demonstrate your colleagues vouch for your abilities.
- They help give viewers a fuller picture of your key skills and expertise.
- Reciprocal endorsements can strengthen relationships with connections.
- The number of endorsements shows you are engaged on LinkedIn.
So while not a replacement for formal certifications, endorsements do positively showcase your professional capabilities and network.
Conclusion
Checking LinkedIn endorsements is easy to do right from your profile or the endorsements page. Keeping track of new endorsements and thanking endorsers helps maintain your professional relationships. While not mandatory, endorsements provide a simple way to exhibit your key skills and expertise to your network. By strategically engaging on LinkedIn, you can organically build up relevant endorsements over time.