Thoughts on Skill Endorsements on Linkedin

What are your thoughts on the recently added "endorsing of skills" on Linkedin?  Will it become another way to self publish recommendations? I personally have not asked for endorsements, do you think recruiters and employers will look for these when seeking a potential employee or is it another flash in the pan?

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Permalink Reply by Julie Kearns on October 15, 2012 at 8:16am

I have received numerous unsolicited endorsements from connections that I have had limited interactions with and have chosen not to publish / accept these.  I think that publishing your own skills is sufficient on LinkedIn profiles and upon further interaction with candidates, good recruiters will be able to guage whether or not your level of proficiency in these skills is adequate for the roles they are recruiting for without having to rely on these endorsements. 

It would be great if LinkedIn introduced other functions such as a 'minimum profile' where certain fields are mandatory and have to be completed in order to publish your profile and profiles displayed the date of when last the person logged in / visited linkedin / updated their profile and perhaps suspending accounts that are inactive for prolonged periods of time.  This would help eliminate duplicate profiles, manage redundant information and encourage people to keep their profiles up to date.

Permalink Reply by Helen Burbank (Appleby) on October 15, 2012 at 9:26am

I am not entirely sure of them. Where traditional LinkedIn recommendation gives some level of qualification in 'judging' skills, the endorsements do not. How is someone to know if you were endorsed by your mother versus someone with solid know-how in your field?

Permalink Reply by Will Thomson on October 15, 2012 at 9:47am

Helen & Julie- I think I am with you.  I have also received unsolicited endorsements.  I have accepted them, but I haven't endorsed anyone because I am not sold on the idea yet.  The ones I've accepted are really from people I know and trust.  I would love to hear what others think about it also.  I'm glad to know I am not the only one who feels this way.

Permalink Reply by Tiffany Branch on October 15, 2012 at 10:00am

I think it's rubbish just like the other endorsements. Cute feature, YES. Ego boost when someone endorses your skills, YES. Does it mean anything to me as a recruiter, NO.

Permalink Reply by Will Thomson on October 15, 2012 at 10:17am

Tiffany- I would never make a hire based upon a linkedin recommendation endorsement.  Good point.

Permalink Reply by Elise Reynolds on October 15, 2012 at 10:50am

I was a little confused by all this endorsement activity.  I sort of felt on the spot too.  Hey I am a recruiter which means I am good at reading a resume, but not endorsing a technical skill. 

The whole thing makes me a bit uncomfortable.   However it has given me the opportunity to receive and give warm fuzzies.  So tomorrow as a direct result of these endorsements I am having lunch with a man I placed a few years ago.


That is definately a plus, connecting with people. 

Permalink Reply by Chuck Klein on October 15, 2012 at 12:42pm

Great issue.  I think this new feature is incredibly dumb,  People I don't know have endorsed me.   The feature just gets in the way. Who came up with this anyway?

Permalink Reply by Tiffany Branch on October 15, 2012 at 1:04pm

Sometimes I feel all these social media sites "do too much." I can see you wanting to stay fresh but sometimes, change isn't necessary if you have somehting that works. Like the FB timeline or promoting you post. Too much!

Permalink Reply by Will Thomson on October 15, 2012 at 7:06pm

Elise- that is interesting.  That is cool it worked in the way it did for you.

Permalink Reply by Rohaan Shukla on October 16, 2012 at 3:19am

I think the main catch is having the relevant skills attached to ones profile, rather than number of endorsement on them. 

The feature of getting a list of people under a particular skill once we click on it is a nice one. It may help recruiters find people with niche skill set. 

Permalink Reply by Tiffany Branch on October 16, 2012 at 9:23am

How do you know if it's legit? I think that is the problem. It's nice to see but it's just like references, who is going to provide a list of folks who will give them a bad reference? I'll believe you are an EXCEL guru when you pass my Excel test. Seeing a bunch of names of folks "endorsing" your excel skills is worthless. How do I know these people even know what your skills are? I had two people endorse me for my knowledge of immigration law and I never even worked with them in that area.  

Rohaan Shukla said:

I think the main catch is having the relevant skills attached to ones profile, rather than number of endorsement on them. 

The feature of getting a list of people under a particular skill once we click on it is a nice one. It may help recruiters find people with niche skill set. 

Permalink Reply by Elise Reynolds on October 16, 2012 at 10:03am

I think if the feature motivates people to list their skills out as we have been seeing that will make recruiting easier instead of just cutting and pasting resume text.  Still that skill needs to be verified but before people did not very often fill out the skill portion of their profile. 

Tiffany Branch said:

How do you know if it's legit? I think that is the problem. It's nice to see but it's just like references, who is going to provide a list of folks who will give them a bad reference? I'll believe you are an EXCEL guru when you pass my Excel test. Seeing a bunch of names of folks "endorsing" your excel skills is worthless. How do I know these people even know what your skills are? I had two people endorse me for my knowledge of immigration law and I never even worked with them in that area.  

Rohaan Shukla said:

I think the main catch is having the relevant skills attached to ones profile, rather than number of endorsement on them. 

The feature of getting a list of people under a particular skill once we click on it is a nice one. It may help recruiters find people with niche skill set. 

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