Lately I’ve been getting a number of requests from people on LinkedIn wanting me to recommend them. I’m happy to do them for the people I know, but there are others that I simply don’t know well enough. From the little I know about these people, they’re all very nice people but I just haven’t interacted with them enough to give them a recommendation.
I’m pretty particular about doing recommendations for people on LinkedIn, and suggest to others they should be as well. Whenever you recommend someone on LinkedIn, it’s a statement from you that you think that person is a fine, upstanding individual to do business with. And, like anything else you put online, it’s out there for all to see, so it’s in your best interest to feel super comfortable giving someone a glowing recommendation.
Tips for asking for LinkedIn Recommendations
Ask people know you…
Ask for recommendations from people you know and who can make valid and honest comments about you. The simple fact that you’re connected on LinkedIn doesn’t always mean they know you or your work well enough to recommend you.
Personalize your request…
Sending the default “can you endorse me” message doesn’t show the person you really value their time or what they have to say. And, if you don’t have time to put together a well crafted, polite email asking for their recommendation why should they take the time to write one? Put some thought into your request and let the person know what it is you’d like them to focus on. Something like, “I’d love it if you could recommend my (fill in the blank) services since we’ve worked together and you’ve been pleased with the results,” will make it much easier for the person to write the recommendation.
You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Not necessarily…
While giving a recommendation to someone may get you some positive juju in return, don’t make that your motivation for writing one. It may be that the way you interacted with that person was a bit one sided, leaving them without enough information about you to comment on. And, on the other hand, there may be times when people recommend you but you just don’t have enough knowledge to reciprocate.
The key is to ask for recommendations, and give them, when you know the result will be real, and not done simply out of a sense of obligation.
[tags]LinkedIn, recommendations, social networking[/tags]
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Though I also have a dog and cat, the pets that are the funniest are my 4 parrots, 2 different breeds. My 2 new, young, yellow-collared conures “can’t keep their hands off one another”. It’s almost annoying; i.e., rolling over and under almost all day. I don’t know what sexes they are, but they will run over to me waiting for me to put my lips up to their cage for a kiss. The other 2 are Pionus, both males, who have always been together, though 2 different types–blue-headed and a bronze wing. They fight all the time like an old married couple, and then the next minute groom and cuddle one another. This goes on all day and night. If I separated them, I think they would be lonely.
Luckily I haven’t had any requests from people I don’t know. I can’t imagine asking for a recommendation from someone who I hadn’t worked with extensively. It’s just a matter of good old fashioned netiquette! 🙂