LinkedIn Recommendations can be a potent selling point in a LinkedIn Profile, as they provide an external endorsement from a connection who has direct knowledge of your professional attributes and achievements. Once you’ve built a solid network of past and present colleagues, write recommendations for several of your connections. (Be sure to note how you know this particular connection by categorizing the connection when you make the recommendation, as LinkedIn’s system will ask which position you held when you interacted with the person.)
When you write a LinkedIn recommendation, in addition to exemplifying your colleague’s professional traits, also provide some detail regarding the person’s achievements. For example, note a project that you co-led that achieved a 17% boost in productivity within six months. Provided your connection is appropriate for reciprocal recommendations, e.g. co-worker peer, your colleague will likely reciprocate and write a recommendation for you. For those who don’t, or fall outside of the reciprocal situation, be proactive and request recommendations by messaging connections and ask if they can recommend your work.
How many LinkedIn recommendations should you have posted on your Profile? A minimum of three. Three recommendations is one of the “magic” numbers in LinkedIn which help generate third-degree connections. More is great, of course, and ideally at least one for each position, particularly recent or current jobs.