LinkedIn Recommendations and Endorsements, Which Are More Important?

By know, we all know that the use of social media platforms as a means of networking can be very beneficial when looking for work. Linked In is one that we recommend all of our clients and employees use. LinkedIn, the same as any other social media site, is constantly being upgraded with new profile functions. The latest added feature is Endorsements. These are skills that you can list that allow others to basically vote on the ones they feel you are great at. The higher the number of votes on a skill the more people supposedly feel you have it. The problem is half the people that vote saying you have that skill really do not know. They will endorse you and then ask you to endorse them even though you hardly know them and very worked with them. We hear about people who get over 120 requests a week, some from people they do not know all saying they endorsed them and asking they return the favor. In addition to that, because of these endorsements a lot of people have stopped getting recommendations, which are a much more accurate statement of your skills as they come from people who actually worked with you. Now all that said, it does not mean your endorsements are worthless. If you see someone with a lot of endorsements, and they match what their LinkedIn profile says and they have a large number of recommendations as well you can be relatively safe in saying those endorsements are pretty accurate. Just remember to keep up the good work on your networking site and treat endorsements as just a piece of the puzzle but a piece that is next to worthless without the other information we mentioned above.