Managing request for LinkedIn recommendations -

How should you manage your LinkedIn recommendations?

This is a good question…I’ve just returned from attending the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) national conference in Atlanta. (I didn’t have far to go!) I was thrilled to attend as part of a cadre of bloggers – a huge social media team. If you are not already aware, HR professionals who recruit talent (that’s their word for people they want to hire) are focusing intently on how social media can help them find and hire the BEST talent. (Hopefully, that is you!)

I’ll be sharing more impressions and what I learned here and via my other blogs, but I thought I would start by answering a question I just got from a reader, since it was related to online presence and reputation.

Her question is in reference to my advice that your LinkedIn recommendations should not be reciprocal — you endorse me and I will write a reference for you…

Thank you for this article (about how to ask for recommendations) and I recently asked for a few recommendations (on LinkedIn). Directly after accepting my first recommendation, I was immediately prompted to RECIPROCATE. I was not anticipating any such counter move. Luckily, I had some relevant and wonderful things to say about this person and it worked out fine. But for many others, it may be difficult or impossible to reciprocate.

My question is this: why is it not such a good thing to engage in the LinkedIn recommendation circlejerk? Especially when the site attempts to coerce its users into this behavior? Is it more damaging to one’s credibility to NOT reciprocate?

This is a good question. It certainly puts you in a predicament if you know you don’t want reciprocal recommendations, and your reference immediately asks for one.

First thing: remember, advice to try to avoid swapping recommendations is a guideline, not a hard-and-fast rule. That said, I don’t think it is too far fetched to assume if you have three or four recommendations, and you recommend everyone back, most people won’t put much faith in those “you say something nice and now I’ll say something nice” recommendations.

This is not to say it is terrible if some of your recommendations are two way. It probably would be a bad idea to refuse to provide a reference someone requested if you otherwise would be willing to offer one.

So, what can you do to be sure not all of your references are swaps? How can you handle if people want you to recommend them?

When someone responds to you request for a recommendation with their own request, consider saying:

“I’m so flattered you’d like a recommendation for me. However, I’ve read it’s not a good idea to have all two-way recommendations on LinkedIn, because people may discount their value. I know this perception could reflect on both of us. However, I am happy to do other things to help you with your professional networking. In fact, if you are interested, I would love to make an introduction to __________, a colleague I admire and who you would probably also enjoy meeting.

If that isn’t comfortable, keep in mind:

You don’t need to showcase or link to the people you recommend on your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn gives you the option to display your endorsement or not. If you don’t post it on your profile, it is a little harder for people to notice that you have two-way recommendations.

Bottom line: all career advice is “advisory!” Make an informed decision and do the right thing for you and your colleagues when the situation arises.

Have you dealt with this situation? What did you do?

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