Are your recommendations on Linkedin favours for friends?
Do you have recommendations on your Linkedin profile?
I have been noticing a growing trend of people exchanging favors on Linkedin of this kind:
“You write a recommendation on Linkedin for me and I will write one for you”.
They worked in the same company or exchanged information but never really worked together to be able to recommend each other. You only talked to the person twice and had a nice drink with this guy, but on that basis how can you recommend him?
These people don’t understand the principles of recommendations: they are truly powerful when they are honest and authentic. And you can tell from the way it is written, you can tell when you read them.
Otherwise you have the boring recommendation which is a bit general with no specific feedback and details of why this person is really an asset, ie “John is an outstanding performer and he can deliver anything on time”.
An authentic recommendation could be something like: “John has shown true presentations skills when he pitched clients over our products during exhibitions. He also delivered a high-level customer service communicating and updating on a regular basis our client”.
It is specific and based on a true observation of John’s work behaviour.
And now the problem of these “favoured” recommendations is that when you do double recommendations, ie you recommend a colleague who recommends you, you can always raise suspicions. And actually recruiters are suspicious.
Even if normally you can tell a true one from a favoured one, you never know.
So my piece of advice would be: avoid two way recommendations, but if you do it, do it with a very specific and fact related feedback.
Clara Gouveia said:
Feb 18, 10 at 8:04 pmI totally agree with Laurent Brouat. When we analyse recommendations we want feedback about a person’s behaviour and performance in a professional point of view. That´s why the opinion of superiores or custumers are so important.
Of course we all (in principle..) want to help our friends and family! If they are our friends or family it´s natural and expected that we say nice things about them, because they are what they are. So, to be efective and useful, I think recommendations should be writen by people who have worked with us, as our superiores or as our clients.
Michael Simonyi said:
Feb 26, 10 at 6:37 amI support your comments, Laurent. Another very poor practice is that of recruiters within the same firm posting recommendations for each other – the comments are almost always generic, of no value, and underline the fact that the exercise is pointless. Real recommendations/testimonials are invaluable, but most don’t stand up to the most basic scrutiny.
Laurent Brouat said:
Feb 27, 10 at 6:56 pmHi Michael, thanks for your comment. I did not know that some recruiters were doing that kind of thing…What do people think when they realize that? Very poor short-term thinking! When you create a tool, you always have people trying to abuse it. So spread the word, watch out the recommendations.
Dr Simon Fletcher said:
Feb 28, 10 at 12:39 pmCompletely agree with the above. I have made a limited number of recommendations, (have a couple more that I really need to do), but all of them are based on significant pieces of work with those concerned. The danger from my point of view is that those most likely to recommend me are those I have written about myself, due to our interactions over a prolonged period of time on complex pieces of work. Its for that reason that I have not asked for a reciprocal recommendation.
Interestingly, I noticed Google advertising here for various roles and stating that they have a preference for those with recommendations. I can see the use as a filtering process, but I hope that they check them as thoroughly as I would references on a CV.
Shiv Vasisht said:
Mar 01, 10 at 12:40 pmYes, it is very obvious that most recommendationsa are asked for and that there is reciprocity that makes either suspicious – I really shouldn’t have asked my ex-colleague to write mine in return!
While I do like your observation about being specific to behavior, I do not mind reading a recco that gives me a picture of a person as a whole; as it were, some of the most talented people can be the most aggravating to work with!
I do intend to ask my colleagues and friends to recommend me, but I would mark out immediately that they would have to focus on those that add to my professional aspirations as listed in my profile.
I had in mind a format on the lines of: A line on each of the following, not necessarily in this order:
“My skills then, as in keeping with my profile reqirements,
“What example had I shown as a professional that they still remember?
“What else did I add outside of my scope of work – at a personal level – to the organisation,
“What was the one thing that they thought I could change about myself as a professional?
“How best could others use me?”
I would screen all replies and edit them for their reapproval.
I would also tell them I would not do a reciprocal recommendation till at least 3 months – so they get separated enough on my profile page.
What do you think?
Regards,
Shiv Vasisht
Laurent Brouat said:
Mar 01, 10 at 1:07 pmHi Shiv,
As long as your Recos are authentic and specific, I think it is all right…but I would advise you not to enter into a race for recos…the more IS NOT the better. Quality over quantity.