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Some people hate receiving a request for a LinkedIn® recommendation.

  • And that includes people they like
  • The recommendation-haters probably do not care for reference letters either

Assuming you respect the requestor’s work (if you don’t, that’s a post for another day), here is a simple process for writing LinkedIn® recommendations.

Creating a Quality Recommendation

In an earlier post, we reviewed how to write a reference letter. Some of the same elements apply to writing a LinkedIn® recommendation.

Explain How You Know the Person

The twist with LinkedIn® is it delivers a broad category of your relationship with the individual – Colleague, Service Provider, Business Partner, Student.

The category provides in what capacity you know the person. Include how long you have known them and more specifics on the relationship.

For example, “My company hired Scott as our insurance broker and I have worked with Scott for the last five years…”

Include Specifics

Writing, “Scott’s great” is like a comment in a post that states, “Great post” – nice, but doesn’t tell us a lot. However, feel free to write “great post” here.

Did that sound a bit too desperate? Sorry, I digress. Back to LinkedIn®.

Include specifics about the person you are recommending, like their attitude (dedicated), knowledge (social media expert), and skills (attention to detail).

Match Skills

The nice thing about LinkedIn® is your access to the person’s profile.

Review the individual’s profile for ideas for your recommendation.

Even if you knew them in a former job, look at their current profile summary and specialties.

Match the skills from your experience working with them to those listed.

Be Brief

Here’s the best thing about a LinkedIn® recommendation – brevity is king. If you agonize over writing recommendations, at least it’s short-lived.

Like any online writing, readers’ attention span is short.

You want the recommendation long enough to convey enthusiasm for the task, but not so long that readers click away.

You are allowed 3,000 characters, but personally, I would keep it under 1,000, and more in the neighborhood of 800 – 900.

Be Sincere

The number one attribute of a quality recommendation is sincerity.

If you’re not feeling it, don’t write it.

The Mechanics

LinkedIn® has made the process simple. There are two ways for creating recommendations.

  • The first way is through a request from the individual
  • The second way is one you initiate

Request for Recommendation

  • Open the request in your Inbox
  • Click on Write Recommendation
  • Write your recommendation
  • Hit Submit

Initiate a Recommendation

  • Click on Profile drop-down menu
  • Click on the Recommendations option
  • Find the blue Make a Recommendation box
  • Enter the person’s name – or – click on select from your connections list
  • Select the button for one of the four categories – Colleague, Service Provider, Business Partner, Student
  • Click on Continue
  • Under Relationship, select an option from the drop-down menu under Basis of recommendation
  • Select from the drop-down menu of Your title at the time
  • Select from the drop-down menu of [Person's name] title at the time
  • Write your recommendation
  • Hit Send

You also have the option of creating a recommendation from the person’s profile.

On the right side of their profile, click on the second list item, Recommend this person.

Quid Pro Quo

Besides making you feel good, there is an added benefit in providing LinkedIn® recommendations. Often the person reciprocates.

There are conflicting views on whether or not you should request a recommendation. I think it is fine as long as the person knows your work.

  • Don’t send a request for a recommendation to someone you only met while networking
  • It’s downright embarrassing for both of you

Just like it is easy for us to forget about thanking someone for a job well done, we don’t think about recommendations.

If you ever received an unsolicited recommendation, think how you felt – pretty good, right?

Validity Check

One caution – wait a while to reciprocate.

Since LinkedIn® does updates on your connections, it decreases the validity factor when you see back-to-back recommendations between you and the person who recommended you.

It might be sincere, but why add that sprinkle of doubt.

LinkedIn® is one of my favorite social media tools. I hope you will think about writing some recommendations in the future – ones you like and and don’t agonize over.

What do you think about recommendations?

Photo: jntvisual |

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UPDATE: Since I wrote this post, it continues to receive a lot of traffic.

As a result, I created a few more tools that can be found in Free Stuff.

No more excuses – create some great recommendations.

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