Back in the day you would send someone that you knew well and that you knew valued your expertise in your chosen area of work a request for a recommendation.  They would take the time and effort to write a recommendation for you in their own words and then send it back for your approval and upload to your LinkedIn profile.

The process had credibility; it was from people you knew and it was in their own words.  Yes, it did take time but that only added merit to the endorsement; that someone had taken the time to put down in words just how good you were to work with.

These recommendations remain but are now also accompanied by ‘skills and expertise’; key words that reflect your areas of expertise.  People can visit your profile and with one click endorse your knowledge of a specific area.  LinkedIn has even gone so far as to encourage you to endorse with ‘Can you endorse XX for any of these services’ promotion boxes at the top of profile pages you visit.

But have they made it too easy? Yes, too easy! I have heard numerous occasions of endorsements being made for areas the person has no involvement with or from endorsers the recipient has never even done work with.  A logical explanation may be that it is now far too easy to ‘endorse’ a skill and indeed, with some endorsed by more than 100 for a skill that there are too many making too many endorsements to be all of the same quality and value.

In all reality some may well just be that good but their recommendations would have reflected this before the ‘skills and expertise’ section were added.

In a world in which time is precious it was understandable that LinkedIn would look to refine the original recommendation process and streamline some of its faults.  But what has been left is potentially a system devalued by its own ease and quickness.

For more information on our LinkedIn training and how we can help you gain more from LinkedIn please give us a call or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk