Recently, a colleague and good friend who I respect and admire professionally asked me to write LinkedIn recommendation for him. So now I have to confess… he asked me to write it about 6 months ago. Since then, I’ve been stalling and procrastinating.
I wasn’t sure where to start and what I should say; I wanted to be specific, succinct, honest and helpful but I was concerned that the whole concept of recommendations was flawed anyway. As Greg Savage quite passionately notes:
“And it’s not just qualifications, work history, achievements and job titles that are inflated, exaggerated and quiet simply fabricated. The recommendations on LinkedIn are often as farcical as a John Cleese special.”
Who is going to publish an unflattering recommendation?
Indeed, who is going to write one?
A few wise pieces of advice from Firebrand’s Carolyn Hyams:
- Don’t ask people who DON’T know you well in a professional capacity to write recommendations for you.
- It’s not about the quantity of the recommendations, it’s about the quality of them.
- Tit for tat, reciprocal recommendations look dodgy.
On a lighter note, here’s a few examples of what NOT to write…
HONEST LINKEDIN RECOMMENDATIONS courtesy of the New Yorker….
It would be unfair to label Cory as just a project manager. On a daily basis, he’s responsible for trashing the mood of everyone around him. With an infectious can’t-do attitude and rants that I assume are related to some sort of childhood slight, Cory can tank a project just by being assigned to it. He would be an incredibly negative asset to any company.
How can I sum up Judy in just one paragraph? I can’t, because she will probably rewrite it. A brilliant micromanager and leader of team anxiety, she never met a project she didn’t want to take over. Judy has inspired thousands of eye rolls during her time here, and anybody that’s going to work with her deserves to be warned in advance.
Remember if you write a recommendation it could be there forever and it is a reflection on you as well as the person you are writing about. It’s important that you know them well enough to make that recommendation and that you truly rate them. It’s reasonable to give credit for the work they did, sometimes that is an opportunity to share some of the credit for the team achievement.
So not all that bad after all?
If you are going to take that step and make a recommendation, I suggest that:
- Only make recommendations for people you know well and in a professional context.
- Don’t just recommend people who have recommended you
- Don’t be afraid of recommending someone for their contribution to achieving a team goal that you also added value to, you both can share and there is no harm in a little bit of well balanced promotion
- Make it honest and a fair representation – your connections will often know the true story
