LinkedIn Recommendations: Why and How to Give Them
Some of the recent job search advice I’ve read and heard centers on LinkedIn recommendations. For people looking for new jobs, these recommendations:
· Help job seekers rank higher in recruiter searches
· Are a form of social proof — they show recruiters the candidate has done great work in the past
· Highlight skills and talents
However, I believe LinkedIn recommendations offer benefits to the recommender, too.
Benefit 1: Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude
Recommending someone is an act of gratitude. Research shows that gratitude has a positive effect on your mental health. When you take a few minutes out of your day to thank someone for something they’ve done, you feel:
· Less anxiety
· More compassion
· Less self-critical
Gratitude is a way of stepping outside of yourself and recognizing the good in other people, and by extension, the world.
Writing a LinkedIn recommendation shows gratitude for another person’s performance or behavior. It makes you pause so you can think about that other person’s positive qualities.
Think about the last time you complimented someone. How did that make you feel? I’m guessing it made you feel good. Writing a LinkedIn recommendation allows you to feel good, too, because you’re practicing gratitude.
Benefit 2: Life Is Short. Don’t Wait to Tell Someone How You Feel
That advice might sound out of place in a professional context — normally, when you hear that you shouldn’t wait to tell someone how you feel, you’re having a conversation about a relationship. Yet, if you appreciate someone’s hard work, why would you wait to tell that person?
The person you work with, whose hard work you appreciate and rely upon, could be laid off tomorrow. Or, that person might be looking for another job, and they’re days away from giving notice. You don’t know what external factors could cause your working relationship to change in an instant.
Let that person know, now, how much you appreciate their work by writing a LinkedIn recommendation.
How Do You Write a LinkedIn Recommendation, Anyway?
At this point, you might be saying, “But I’m not a professional writer. How do I write a LinkedIn recommendation?”
Good news: you don’t need to be a professional writer. You just need to be honest and specific. The recommendation doesn’t even have to be that long. A few lines of text can say so much more than paragraphs and paragraphs (plus, LinkedIn recommendations have character limits, so you can’t write a novel).
Here’s my advice on writing LinkedIn recommendations: write a rough draft. Before I post the recommendation on someone’s profile, I open a Notepad file on my computer and type up my thoughts.
I consider the person’s responsibilities and tasks when writing a recommendation, and how they performed those duties. Then, I think about the adjectives that describe how they did their job. If the person had to learn new skills or knowledge quickly, make that clear.
I also believe it’s important to talk about someone’s personality. I know that hiring managers want to see what kind of person they’re hiring, and by saying something like, “Jack always brings positive energy to meetings,” or “Mary is kind, caring, and thoughtful,” you show why it’s great to work with that person.
The Muse offers some excellent templates for LinkedIn recommendation writing.
If at First You Don’t Succeed…
Posting a LinkedIn recommendation isn’t instant. The person receiving the recommendation has the chance to review it and make changes if necessary.
I believe that’s a good thing, and here’s why: the receiver can provide valuable feedback that helps you write a better recommendation. And perhaps you can use that feedback to write stronger recommendations in the future.
