HOW TO GET THE BEST OUT OF LINKEDIN – RECOMMENDATIONS

If you already have a LinkedIn profile, and are familiar with posting updates and building your network, are you now wondering what else can LinkedIn do for you?

We will be bringing you a series of LinkedIn features that you can use to improve your profile.

Our first update shows you how to receive and provide recommendations.

Recommendations on LinkedIn

Have you ever given or received a recommendation on LinkedIn? This could be a great way for people to get to know more about you and your work. It’s not only recruiters and job applicants who scour LinkedIn profiles for information – there’s a fair chance your potential and existing clients will too. Especially in the B2B sector. People search for specific evidence – proof – that you are the right person for the job, something they don’t necessarily get from your employment history or list of endorsements.

What are recommendations?

Recommendations appear on your LinkedIn profile, below the Experience, Education, and Skills & Endorsements sections. The total number of recommendations given and received is shown, and those received will be shown by default.

How will recommendations help me?

Recommendations allow individuals you have worked or collaborated with to vouch for you as a person and your skills in your industry. Recommendations can add weight to everything that you have said about yourself elsewhere in your profile. They are also a timeline, highlighting how you have been throughout your career. It might show how you have grown, learnt and developed in your industry, or it might highlight positive attributes that have been consistent over the years.

How do you get recommendations?

Chances are you will have to ask! The easiest way is to click on the “Ask for a recommendation” button on your LinkedIn profile page and fill in the details. After searching for the person, you would like to ask, complete the section on how they know you. Finally, there is a free form box allowing you to personalise your message, before clicking ‘Send’. If your connection gives a recommendation, you will receive a notification and you can “Accept the recommendation”; it will then be displayed on your profile.

How do I give recommendations for others?

You will find the Recommend button on a person’s profile page, in the Recommendations section and it needn’t take a long time to complete. Select from the drop-down list how you know the person and where you worked together and type into the free form box in the next window. Describe where or when you worked together. Share something positive about the person’s capabilities – what impressed you about them or how they successfully overcame a challenge, for example. Finish by saying why you would recommend them to others.

Don’t worry, if you change your mind about any recommendations either given or received, there is the option to delete or hide them from your profile.

LinkedIn has more than 630 million members and with professionals signing up to join at a rate of more than two new members per second, LinkedIn is the most obvious and effective platform for professional services firms to build their network and presence.

Look out for our next update on LinkedIn company pages.

Cal Partners is a North East award-winning marketing and social media agency working with professional services firms to attract their ideal clients. From setting up LinkedIn profiles, company pages, managing and sharing posts daily to LinkedIn advertising, we have helped businesses to use LinkedIn as part of their marketing strategy with successful results.