You need more LinkedIn recommendations
Alongside LinkedIn InMails, LinkedIn Recommendations are one of the most overlooked, and yet one of the most powerful elements of LinkedIn.
Whether you are looking to land your next career opportunity, or secure more clients and business opportunities, LinkedIn recommendations are a valuable resource.
In this article, I will cover what LinkedIn recommendations are and why they're important, as well as guide you through exactly how you can get great LinkedIn recommendations on your LinkedIn profile.
have also included scripts that will help you to ask colleagues, managers and clients to leave you a powerful recommendation on your LinkedIn profile.
What are LinkedIn recommendations?
Anyone with a LinkedIn profile can ask a connection to write them a recommendation.
This recommendation is then featured on your LinkedIn profile page forever (or until you remove it) and is available for anyone to read.
It will also be viewable on the LinkedIn profile of the person who wrote you the recommendation.
LinkedIn recommendations are not endorsements.
Endorsements are when someone simply clicks on one of your listed skills to indicate that you are skilled in that area.
Why are LinkedIn recommendations important?
Well, for the same reason that potential employers will ask for references before they hire you, and for the same reason that people will read reviews before they purchase a product or service online.
We all feel more comfortable when somebody else has already recommended a person or a product to us, social proof is a really powerful sales tool.
So, whether you're looking to attract clients or to land a new job, having recommendations will greatly enhance your LinkedIn profile and will aid in convincing the viewer that you are the real deal!
How many LinkedIn recommendations should you have?
The more the better. If you have one recommendation, it's somewhat powerful, but if you have 10, 20, 30 or more, you are building up a body of evidence that testifies to your expertise, skills, experience and your professionalism.
If you were on Amazon looking to make a purchase, and one product had a hundred five-star reviews and the other had zero reviews, you would be much more likely to purchase the product with all the great reviews.
Simply put, it gives you peace of mind and reassurance that that product will do exactly what it claims to do.
If you have no “reviews” on your LinkedIn (no recommendations) you're not telling the whole story. By getting recommendations from clients or colleagues, you are giving a complete picture and you are really selling yourself to whomever is viewing your profile.
You don't need to wait until a prospective employer asks for references. Instead, you can give them some very compelling reasons to interview, and potentially hire you, before they even speak with you.
Whom should you ask for a LinkedIn recommendation?
Firstly, you should never ask people that you haven't worked with or don’t have some kind of professional relationship with.
You may think that's obvious, but a lot of the time I have people that I’m connected with, but that I have never interacted with professionally, ask me to recommend them. This is simply not the right approach.
Instead, you should ask for recommendations from people that you have worked with. This could be colleagues, managers, people you have managed and individuals that have worked in the same group with you and with whom you have interacted.
I suggest you start by asking people that you know well; people that you can feel confident going to and asking for a recommendation. As you begin to get more LinkedIn recommendations, you can begin to reach out wider and wider into your network.
How do you get LinkedIn recommendations on your LinkedIn profile?
The easiest way to request a recommendation is to visit the profile of the person you would like to write the recommendation. Click on ‘more…’ in their header section and then select ‘Request a recommendation’.
