LinkedIn Endorsement for Someone You Don't Know Well
Dear Deb:
I am getting bombarded with requests to endorse people on LinkedIn. If it is someone I know and can truly endorse their skill, I am very happy to endorse them. However, I am really uncomfortable endorsing someone I barely know. If they have endorsed me, should I give a courtesy reciprocal endorsement?
I would hate to burn bridges. On the other hand, these endorsements will quickly become meaningless if all of us endorse everyone willy-nilly.
Would love your advice!
Thanks, Willow P., Savannah, GA
Dear Willow:
I understand your frustration! This is a newly-redesigned feature on LinkedIn and there is bound to be an adjustment period. Here are some criteria that make sense to me.
* If you know the person well enough to assess their skills, endorse the skills that you feel are their strongest. You can write in a new skill. You don’t have to just affirm the one presented to you. Also, you may want to take it one step further and write a recommendation, if this is someone that you truly respect and would recommend for employment.
* If you know the person well enough to know the jobs they have held, you could endorse some basic skills that you judge this person to have. For example, I often feel comfortable endorsing someone’s communication skills if I have communicated with them by phone and email. If they are a client and we worked together very well, I would certainly endorse their interpersonal or vendor relations skills.
* The tricky category is the person you don’t know. Maybe they are a fellow member of a professional association, but you know nothing about their skills or qualities. This is a category of person that I probably would not endorse. I simply don’t know them and would feel awkward confirming an endorsement presented to me automatically. If you get an endorsement by a person you do not know, chances are it was presented to them automatically by LinkedIn. They are not waiting at bay for your reciprocal endorsement, so you can let go of that guilt.
Thanks for taking time to write me today. This has been a topic on my mind too!
If you have a question for Deb, please email debra@careersdonewrite.com. The Ask Deb column appears every Friday on our blog at the Careers Done Write website.