LinkedIn Endorsements - Trim to the few "best" or show them all?

October 15, 2011 1:37 PM

I've often called my career in architecture glorified itinerant work. The fact is that I need to go where the jobs are. So, despite having confidence in my position for the next six months to two years, I recently decided to start brushing up my public facing networking tools. In particular this means LinkedIn, and I decided to send a request for recommendations to many folks I have worked with over the past decade and a half at several positions. The result has been pretty gratifying to my ego, but now I realize I need to better understand the etiquette and strategy of how best to post them.

The endorsements vary from simple two sentence, very positive, notes from individuals of significant influence, to more detailed pieces from a few direct and indirect managers. I'm just not sure if I should be trying to choose the top three or five overall, two or three for each of the four positions I've had since college, or whether I just list them all despite the number approaching fifteen, with more coming in every few days.

I'm definitely in an industry where it is up to me to hustle to find great quality work, but I also don't want my profile to come off as overly boastful or like I'm just "trying to impress". Honestly, one of my challenges in editing the list down is how much regard I hold for some of the people who did endorse me. Which is why I can really use the third party input on approach.

Right now I'm showing 2/3 of them which feels a bit like an unsatisfying compromise.

Also potentially relevant is that whenever I wrap up this job I may consider a lateral move into something more like facilities/campus planning. That would mean dealing with more corporate structured HR at larger organizations that may not be as familiar with what the specifics of my job experience mean. So, advice to tune for those viewers is particularly appreciated.

posted by meinvt to Work & Money (4 answers total)

If you have asked people to write you LinkedIn recommendations, and they have, and you choose not to approve and display them, it's a slight. There's no reason not list all 15 of them, anyway. There's a degree to which you're over thinking this. It isn't boastful when other people say nice things about you.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:19 PM on October 15, 2011

PS: If you are essentially a freelancer, this is doubly true. You literally cannot have too many former clients saying nice things about you.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:21 PM on October 15, 2011

LinkedIn is a funny thing - sudden bursts of activity such as reference requests essentially broadcast to your network (and the world at large) that you're in a state of change, and either are looking for a new job with no firm prospect yet, or are about to lose your job.

LinkedIn's true power as a job search/networking tool can be found in its Groups. Joining a group allows you to radically expand your network. Making intelligent and thoughtful contributions to groups allows you to build up trust and credibility within that network. Providing truly valuable contributions and subject-matter-expertise will make you stand out to your network.

You can either approach your newfound trusted connections to get their advice about career opportunities, or they may approach you.

But recommendations and endorsements are pretty meaningless to most people. They are static, whereas group contributions are dynamic. They are also not particularly credible - anyone can exchange recommendations, after all.
posted by KokuRyu at 3:32 PM on October 15, 2011

KokuRyu, that is actually why I did this now, as this is a moment when I'm explicitly not in a state of change. I think the credibility of recommendations has a lot to do with who is giving them, but I'll admit that most profiles I see in my network of a couple hundred have very few of don't have any, which is why I have little point of comparison.
posted by meinvt at 8:31 PM on October 15, 2011