Would You Endorse Someone?

LinkedIn is betting that you would.

I suppose this feature is great for people who would write a recommendation, if they had the time, or knew how to write a good recommendation. On the other hand, while the time involved is probably a big part of why people don’t write recommendations on LinkedIn, it’s not the only reason. Many large organizations frown upon their employees writing LinkedIn recommendations for former coworkers, especially for people who used to report to you. They would prefer to stay risk averse and have all such things handled by an HR professional, skilled in the art of saying nothing, I’m sure. 😉

Given that hesitation, would you endorse someone’s listed skills? Is the simple act of looking at a LinkedIn profile, like mine for instance, and checking off that a box that basically says “Yes this person does, in fact, posses this skill”, a risk to you? Or is it nothing more than the equivalent of a “Like”? On the flip side, does someone endorsing one of your skills on LinkedIn actually mean anything? Do recommendations mane anything. for that matter? How much value would you place in someone having “endorsed” skills?

Wouldn’t that depend on who was doing the endorsing, and whether you knew that person well? It would to me. An endorsement is only as good as the person giving it. If it’s a random stranger I don’t know, it won’t carry near as much weight as it would if it came from someone I am connected to closely, and knew well. (Someone I’d endorse, for that matter!)

In the end, no matter how many endorsements LinkedIn adds, relationships still matter.

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