Linkedin is a fantastic platform to network and posts your skills. I refer to it as the business version of Facebook. You can post status updates and react to others’ posts.
Your profile will consist of your past experiences, possibly a resume, and endorsements.
What a minute, what are endorsements on Linkedin? This is not as commonly known as recommendations. You may hear it with celebrities and athletes when they “endorse” a product.
But endorsements for LinkedIn? Don’t worry, I will go over this and how you can get people to endorse your skills on Linkedin.
Skill Endorsements on Linkedin
Source: Medium
Endorsements are a feature on LinkedIn that allow people to go to your profile and endorse specific skills. An endorsement can be seen as someone confirming that you have a specific skill.
For example, anyone can just put skills on their profile. Linkedin doesn’t ask, “Hey, do you have this skill ?” To prove that you have a particular skill, a person can endorse you. This shows other employers that someone has verified specific skills on your profile.
Endorsements add validity to your profile and get you extra attention from employers.
On your Profile
Source: TopResume
To go into further detail, you can have a maximum of 50 skills on your profile. You can add a skill at any time, and one of your connections can endorse that skill.
You can add soft or technical skills. Both add value and allow people to feel connected to you. Here are some examples.
- Organisational
- Management
- Leadership
- [ Technical skills within Certain Careers]
- Cold Calling
- Appointment Setting
You want to have a mix of skills that display your work ethic, i.e. organised, flexibility, public speaking, etc.
Along with technical skills will be skills specific to your previous experiences.
Manage your Skills
After someone has endorsed your skill, you can choose the order of display. If you don’t want a specific skill to be ranked above others, you can move that one to the bottom. You can also move your endorsed skills to the top for more attention.
You can hide specific skills that you don’t want to be publicised. If you find yourself not wanting to make a skilled public, then you have the option to hide it.
Linkedin Endorsements vs Recommendations
Source: Bluesteps
For clarification, we don’t want to confuse endorsements for recommendations. A recommendation on LinkedIn is a written reference that supports your work. This is typically anywhere from a paragraph to a page.
Skill endorsements are verified skills from any of your first -degree connections. First degree connections are people you have sent a connection invitation to, and they have accepted it or vice versa.
How to Get and Give Endorsements on Linkedin
Source: Bluesteps
Now we can see that endorsements are valuable, but how can we get them?
A great way to get endorsements is by endorsing others. It is essential to find people who have seen you use your skills. The endorsement will notify the person that a skill on their profile has been endorsed.
Hopefully, this will get their attention, and they would like to return the favour by endorsing one of your skills. If not, then you can try sending a private message. Here is a sample
“Hey Robert,
I endorsed one of your skills on Linkedin because I remember your [insert skill] proficiency while working at [insert company or project]. I was wondering if you would be interested in endorsing one of my skills?”
A place to start is to give endorsements, but what about those who don’t need your endorsements. For example, a teacher or CEO most likely won’t need your endorsements, so you will have to ask.
Start with your current and previous business relationships. ( preferably long term relationships)
Then, put together a quick message on LinkedIn. You can state when you worked with them and what skills you used. Then ask if they would like to endorse that skill on LinkedIn. If so, let them know to go to your LinkedIn profile and hit the endorse button on a skill.
Results
You may have noticed some of the benefits already, but I wanted to recognise the effect endorsements have on your profile.
- Lack of endorsements might raise scepticism.
- Endorsements open more opportunities.
- Maintain connections that you might need in the future
- Adds validation
Conclusion
There are so many ways to improve your profile. Getting endorsements is just one of those ways.
That concludes everything you need to know about endorsements on Linkedin! Don’t be afraid to reach out and build connections.
