Your Guide to Getting More LinkedIn Endorsements

You’ve set up your LinkedIn profile and selected every skill you could possibly add to your profile. Now you have to get endorsements. What’s the big deal about LinkedIn endorsements? To start, they can show to a potential employer that your skills are legitimate. And an endorsement without a lengthy added recommendation takes but a click—a mere two seconds. So what’s the best strategy for getting those endorsements? First of all, you should aim for quality, not quantity. Pick the skills that are most relevant to your current and desired career stage. Having a million endorsements of your social media skills or Photoshop ability is not going to help you move forward as an accountant. After you’ve added your most relevant skills and weeded out the ones that will have little or no impact on your career, here are a few steps you can follow as a guide to getting endorsed.

Increase the Section's Prominence

Move your endorsements section up in your profile, using the "up" arrow in the Edit function under Skills & Expertise. The best place might be just below your summary section, near the top. This is particularly effective if you update your status frequently (which you should), as people will be more apt to visit your profile and have the chance to endorse you.

Practice Generosity

Get the reciprocity going by endorsing other people. Start with the people you work with on a daily basis, then move onto people whose work you admire. Try not to endorse too many connections you are not directly acquainted with. The idea is, your connections will feel a wee boost from your endorsement and naturally be inclined to return the favor.

Just Ask

It’s perfectly legitimate to ask a few of your coworkers or past coworkers to endorse you for skills they would have seen in action. And state explicitly that you’d be happy to return the favor in helping them increase their visibility somehow. This is also a good way of ensuring that you get the right endorsements, the ones that will be most helpful and put your skills in the best light. Ask people who would already have a good opinion of you work and who would be the appropriate type of person to endorse the quality of what you do best.

Optimize Your Profile

The more people who see your profile, the better. You’ll get more endorsements, and then more viewers actually seeing those endorsements. There are plenty of resources around for how to use SEO to optimize your LinkedIn traffic.

Say Thanks

When people endorse you, a wee thank you is a very nice touch. It’s a great way to make a genuine connection out of a casual one, and can breed more reciprocity. Remember: keep your skills updated and sleekly tailored to your goals, and make sure to keep working to drive up your best possible endorsements for a successful career.