my coworkers said they’d write me LinkedIn recommendations — but never came through

by Alison Green on May 3, 2021

A reader writes:

I am in a puzzling situation. I only have a few days left at my current job, and I am exchanging LinkedIn recommendations with a lot of colleagues. I ask people if that would be okay to do so before actually writing these to make sure that they are on board with that.

About a quarter of my colleagues though (including my bosses) very quickly “forget” that they agreed to write and exchange recommendations, just a few weeks after they enthusiastically agreed to do so.

This isn’t limited to my current employer. In the past I had similar encounters with people who agreed immediately, and then later behaved as if our exchange never happened.

What is going on here? Are people agreeing for show and hoping that I forget, or are they genuinely unable to remember and are then insulted when I mention that this is something we had planned?

The most likely explanation is that it’s just not a high priority for them, and so they’re either forgetting or they keep putting it off and meaning to get to it later but then never do. A lot of people finding writing recommendations to be kind of a pain and so they’ll drag their feet on doing it, especially if there’s no clear deadline.

For what it’s worth, LinkedIn recommendations don’t carry a ton of weight. Employers who want to know what other people think of your work will do reference checks … and will usually figure that a recommendation written for public consumption may not tell the whole story anyway. (Think of all the people you’ve worked with who were Not Great and yet still had a bunch of recommendations displayed on their page. Some of that, to be frank, is because of recommendation-trading endeavors like yours! So they just don’t hold a lot of sway.)

So your coworkers just might not put that much weight on them.

If that’s the case, they still shouldn’t agree to do it and then not follow through, but people are notoriously bad about this kind of thing. They agree in the moment because it sounds okay in theory (until it comes time to actually do it) or they feel put on the spot and don’t know how to politely say “eh, LinkedIn recommendations aren’t my thing” or they really do still mean to do it and just haven’t yet.

The other possible explanation — though it’s much less likely — is that they don’t want to write a recommendation for you because they have concerns about your work, and they don’t know how to say that politely. It’s one thing for a manager to convey that message — they’re charged with assessing your work and giving you feedback — but peers often won’t feel comfortable telling you directly if they don’t want to recommend you … and so you can get people agreeing but then never following through. Again, that’s less likely, but it’s a thing that happens so I’m including it too.

If you want to follow up with people, you could do a one-time, “Hey, realistically, do you think you’ll get to the LinkedIn recommendation? It’s okay if not, I just want to figure out if I should ask someone else.” That language makes it easier for the person to tell you if it’s unlikely to happen, so it’ll probably get you more honest assessments of how likely they are to follow through. (Although you’ll still get some people who say they’re on it but never do it, because that’s just how people work.)

After that one follow-up, though, I’d let it go. There are other more effective ways to lean on people in your network anyway (like asking for job leads in the future, a connection to someone they know, a real reference where they speak to a reference-checker, etc.).

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  1. Nicotene*

    I wouldn’t assume that because people delayed on responding, it’s because they have doubts about your work, OP! People are just bad at getting to things even when they mean to, especially things that matter more to you than to them. Also people’s use of LI can be so different – many of them probably aren’t frequent posters or don’t even log in very often. Just make sure to send them a connection and perhaps they’ll remember next time they’re on the site, or at least you’ll know you’ve done what you can.

    1. Sleepytime Tea*

      I *really* rarely write LI recommendations, but when my amazing manager was fired due to politics and he asked for one, I 100% intended to do it for him and then spaced on it. Several weeks later I remembered and went to write it, only to find out we weren’t even connected on LI and so I couldn’t. This could totally be the case for some of these coworkers and it’s easy to just give up then. (I did send a connection request and wrote the recommendation, but if it hadn’t been someone for whom I had really strong feelings about their work, I would’ve just let it go.)

      1. tamarack and fireweed*

        I came to write down my experience and it was almost exactly like Sleepytime Tea’s.

        Still not feeling all that proud of it! I should have written that recommendation! But it happens. What people write on social media sites is really quite frequently something that falls through the cracks when life gets busy.

    2. CoffeeIsMyFriend*

      Yup! I am the type of person who would totally agree to do this and then put it off, then forget, and then finally do it after a reminder.

    3. Selena*

      There is a tiny chance OPs co-workers think he/she sucks, but it’s far far FAR more likely their co-workers have been putting it off because they were busy or struggled to find the right phrases with which to sum up OPs work.

      A gentle reminder (perhaps pointing out the looming job-loss? or indicating projects or activities that OP would like praise for?) is in order, but that’s about all that can be done.

      I imagine that these recommendations might help OP to feel a bit more secure about their own qualities, even if they don’t hold much weight with recruiters.

    4. Shirley Keeldar*

      I think writing tasks are particularly prone to this kind of overpromise/underdeliver. People think it’ll be easy, they’ll just dash off a paragraph…then they find it’s harder than they thought, as writing often is…then they don’t have the bandwidth or put it off or conveniently forget. It’s very common. Not that this makes it less frustrating for the OP, but it’s probably not about her skills and more about the task itself.

  2. TurkeyLurkey*

    I’m literally sitting with a to-do to write a rec for a beloved colleague that recently moved to another position. I just can’t spare the time with some things going in my personal life. I want to do it justice and I don’t have the bandwidth just yet.

    1. kittymommy*

      Honest to god, I didn’t even know about hem until about a year ago when I got one out of nowhere.

      1. RussianInTexas*

        I was today’s old when I learned they are a thing. I even have a LinkedIn profile and updated it couple weeks ago.

        1. KaylinNeya*

          +1. And now I’m sitting here wondering if I should be concerned about this?

          1. Kyrielle*

            Nope. I have some really nice ones; no one ever mentioned them in hiring me for my current job. The only purpose they seem to have served is to make me feel good. Which is pleasant, but doesn’t affect my job search much. :)

          2. RebelwithMouseyHair*

            Nope! People recommend you in the hopes you’ll recommend them back. Unfortunately the only people who have done that are people whose work I can’t recommend (which is maybe why they’re desperately asking for recommendations to all and sundry!).
            My son told me that recommendations from Big Noises in the industry carry more weight but I’m not sure how that works.

      2. fhqwhgads*

        I have literally only ever heard of them on this website, as a thing Alison tells people don’t matter much. I take her word for it.

    3. Knope Knope Knope*

      Agreed. As a hiring manager, I have never once looked at a LinkedIn recommendation.

    4. Construction Safety*

      Yeah, I don’t think they’re worth the paper they’re printed on.

    5. Threeve*

      I see them as closer to networking than anything useful for job-seeking. In 5 years, that person might be at a company you’re interested in or know someone you want to connect with, and they’re just a little bit more likely to remember you positively if they’ve praised you in the past, even if that praise was directly solicited.

    6. Quickbeam*

      I don’t think much of them at all! I recently got a recommendation from someone I haven’t seen since high school. I’m 65! How do they know what my work qualities are?

      1. Le Sigh*

        My aunt endorses me for stuff all the time on LinkedIn. I see her a few times a year for holidays. She’s a lovely person but I’m pretty sure she has no idea whether or not I’m a master teapot designer or any of the other 33 other things she’s endorsed me for.

        1. Cat Tree*

          My mom has endorsed me for all kinds of things. She’s retired and we have never worked in the same industry or city.

          1. Free Meerkats*

            A bunch of my recommendations are from people with whom I’ve never worked, including my wife. I’ve never requested them and would only do one for someone if they asked.

            The funny thing about my wife giving me some is that, now that I’ve been working from home and she’s seen me at work, she doesn’t like the way I work. :)

          2. One of the Spreadsheet Horde*

            My mom endorsed me too despite having retired from a completely unrelated industry. Employers may not care but it’s nice to know my mom thinks I’m awesome.

          3. Environmental Compliance*

            My dad’s favorite thing to do when he first got LinkedIn was to randomly endorse me for things. Often things rather unrelated to what I actually do, but somewhat related to my original degree. I’ve always ignored endorsements fully and mostly ignore recommendations on LinkedIn.

        2. SheLooksFamiliar*

          FWIW, endorsements are not the same as recommendations. An endorsement is a ‘thumbs up’ by someone in your network and doesn’t mean much, if anything.

          Someone has to write a recommendation for you, and you can publish it or ask the writer to edit it. It has more cachet than an endorsement, but I put as much stock in those as I do in traditional reference letters. Which is to say, not much.

    7. Sparkles McFadden*

      They truly are absurd. It’s hard get yourself to put the time in to write one when you know no one will actually read it.

    8. MassMatt*

      This. Linked in used to suggest recommendations to me for people in my network with annoying frequency. These are not likely to do much if any good in a job search. I’d put energy into letting your contacts know what you are looking for, and who they know that might be able to help you instead. And don’t forget to ask them what THEY are looking for, always try to give as well as get.

    9. I Wrote This in the Bathroom*

      I just checked. I don’t have any, and have written two; both because the other person asked me to write one for them. I never gave them much weight and for sure never looked at them when we were hiring and I was part of the hiring process.

      1. RebelwithMouseyHair*

        I wrote one ages ago, I think it was when LinkedIn was relatively new. I may have set up my profile just to do it, I don’t remember. I had to tick a few boxes to describe her work. One box was for creativity. I didn’t tick that, but then specified in a note that it wasn’t something we required in the work she did for us (the last thing you want is creativity in pharmaceutical translations) and that she more than exceeded expectations in what she did, which was absolutely true.

    10. Selena*

      Question: how do you feel about LinkedIn badges? Is it something that serious recruiters would even look at?

      Of course i don’t expect them to hold the same weight as an actual diploma (and fraud is possible, if one were so inclined), but at least there’s an actual test behind it instead of the favor-trading of recommendations.
      My experience of taking a few of those is that the questions are sufficiently difficult that you can’t just gamble your way through completely unfamiliar subjects.

      1. Lilo*

        I hadn’t even heard of these until now. I looked them up and, no. If you had a relevant credential, I would want it submitted separately and would not rely on a social media badge.

    11. stebuu*

      i’ve interviewed dozens of people.

      I do not give a flying fig about LinkedIn recommendations. In fact if somebody has too many I treat it as a negative as it’s clear they’re they type that “harvests” them.

    13. Artemesia*

      I had people I barely knew professionally write me glowing recs including a cousin I hadn’t seen in 30 years — personally I just never paid attention to them when hiring. I wanted to talk to real ex managers not read what may be bogus puff pieces.

    14. Temperance*

      The hands down weirdest resume package my husband ever received was a tech guy whose “resume” included 5 full pages of Linked In recommendations. It was so cringe.

    15. M*

      Same. It never even occurred to me to look. I can’t imagine how it would give me any meaningful insight.

    16. NotAnotherManager!*

      Same. I can’t imagine caring at all about this. Someone interested in your work history and hiring you wants to talk to a reference, not read the equivalent of unverified Yelp reviews for a candidate.

  4. Anononon*

    Honestly, depending on my workload, a Linkedin recommendation is something that would be at the bottom of my to-do list. In fact, I would probably wouldn’t do it unless I got a follow-up because I would convince myself (rightly or wrongly) that it’s not something super pressing, so if it is that important, the requestor would follow-up. That’s an awful position to take, but it’s the truth. (Fortunately, I’ve never been asked to write a linkedin recommendation, so it’s purely hypothetical.)

    1. Guacamole Bob*

      Yep. I’d absolutely prioritize a recommendation letter for a grad school application or fellowship program, or serving as a reference for a job, or an employment check for a mortgage application or something – something that feels like it has real, tangible implications for someone else’s career or life. LinkedIn recommendations seem so useless that I can easily see myself just not making time to do it.

      The public nature of a LinkedIn recommendation would also give me pause, potentially – I’m pretty careful about what I put on the internet associated with my name, and might not be enthusiastic about this even if I had a good working relationship with the person.

      1. PotatoEngineer*

        Worst-case scenario: after you recommend them, there’s a public scandal about them. And now your name is associated with theirs, once a reporter does the bare-minimum glance at their LinkedIn profile.

        Okay, it’s probably not going to be that bad, but if you need more worst-case scenarios, I’m your human!

  5. Me*

    If you apply for a job with us the only think I’m looking at your LinkedIn if for inconsistencies in work history.

    That’s it. I don’t care what former coworker Jane thought about your work.

    A caveat that some people are treating LinkIn like its the second coming of Facebook so I probably will look at what you’ve posted. Make sure your feed reflects good judgement.

    I’m going to call your references you provide. I’m going to ask them specific questions to get a feel for your work style and history.

    LinkedIn recommendations are unlikely to be of any benefit to you.

    1. Gan Ainm*

      This. I really wish linked in would add an option for “this isn’t business related” for why you don’t want to see a certain type of post.

    2. MassMatt*

      I noticed a surge of Facebook-like content from many users years ago, I really don’t want to see posts like “what do YOU think of Obama?” and the like. Also people posting bogus jobs that are blatantly trolling for contact info or selling MLM or worse. There wasn’t much of a mechanism for reporting offenders at the time which made me use/trust LI much less.

      1. I Wrote This in the Bathroom*

        Yep, my LI feed turned into a social media post-fest. So I stopped looking at my LI feed. Certainly am not in the habit of posting to it.

      2. Lilo*

        I deleted my LinkedIn. I have no interest in leaving my job and we don’t recruit through it. I was tired of weird solicitations. I have been head hunted directly by people in my field even without a LinkedIn.

    3. LilyP*

      The one caveat I’ll give on this is that it’s possible that LinkedIn’s own search algorithms put some weight on having recommendations (or endorsements or connections or whatever) for deciding where to rank your profile in search results, and I bet recruiters do use those searches to source leads.

      1. Me*

        This could be possible but anecdotally I have zero recommendations and have recruiters in my inbox.

  6. Irish Reader*

    I wouldn’t put a load of weight on LinkedIn recommendations either. Everyone knows they’re written by workmates. I used to write them, but the favour was hardly ever returned. I think the ones I have are like 10 years old now. :)

    I would much rather have someone who would be a sure confirmation to be my reference if I were to apply for new roles. I can’t really tell a new employer to check out my LinkedIn recommendations; they want a direct contact with someone who’ll fill in a form, or take a call about me.

  7. Jack Straw*

    As someone who taught high school–meaning I was asked by loads of students for letters when applying to colleges, to be a reference on job applications, etc.–recommendations are something most/many people dread writing. To do it well takes time and craft, something which people don’t always have, too.

    The other thing about a Linked In recommendation is that, if they are not for a specific job or a specific application, they’re even more difficult to write (and seem even more pointless). “Jack does great work!” is far less effective than “Jack is a great Teapot Designer and would bring XYZ to your team at Teapots4Less.”

    OP, it’s not likely that it’s because you do bad work. It is likely that your co-workers haven’t logged into their own LinkedIn profiles since they were last looking for a job.

    1. Le Sigh*

      Yeah, I suspect a lot of this has to do with the fact that LI recs can feel like or are a lot of effort, but don’t really feel that important (might be industry specific, but certainly in mine they don’t feel that important). I wrote a letter of rec for a staffer applying to grad school a few years ago — it had a clear deadline and the staffer provided me with all of the info I needed, and it still took quite a lot of my time. I gladly did it because I wanted this staffer to succeed and they needed my rec for the application. LI recs don’t require that level of effort, but they still require more than a FB Like, and I’ve never felt like anyone’s needed my LI rec to actually get a job.

  8. Dave*

    I had a vendor ask me to write a google review for them which takes less then five minutes, and it took me a week — and this company makes my work life much easier. These types of things are super low on people’s priority lists. You might get a nudge if you write one, but I wouldn’t spend a bunch of time or energy chasing them down personally. I would focus more on making sure to have people’s contact info to stay in touch in the future in part in case you need a real reference or networking connection in the future.

    1. Nicotene*

      Seriously, companies spend a lot of energy trying to incentivize people to leave reviews. And customer service is something people care about!

  9. Save the Hellbender*

    Curious what OP means by “behaved as if our exchange never happened.” If that just means “hasn’t done it yet,” I would just assume, like Alison said, they just haven’t done it yet, because LinkedIn recs aren’t like letters of recommendation for grad school or answering a reference check. But if there’s some more explicit way they’re trying to renege, maybe something’s up.

    1. Dark Macadamia*

      I wondered about that too. Is OP reminding them and they deny the request was ever made, insist they don’t remember agreeing to do it, etc? That would be a little weird. But if they’re just not mentioning it, well, they’re either embarrassed they haven’t done it yet or they genuinely forgot/don’t think it’s important enough to bring up.

      1. Tomalak*

        I can’t even imagine what kind of person writes this stuff without being asked to first.

        I think it would be so unusual for someone to randomly go on LinkedIn and write a recommendation – without first being asked – that if it happened to me I would wonder if the person was in love with me or something.

    2. ElleKay*

      Yes, this plus “then insulted when I mention that this is something we had planned” raised a possible flag for me.
      There’s literally no evidence here that they’ve done anything other than “not gotten to it yet” so I’m a little concerned that OP seems to be jumping to the assumption that all their co-workers are lying to them.

      1. Jack Straw*

        Agreed RE the red flag. I think the OP is putting a ton of weight on the LinkedIn recs when they are not something most employers will even look at, nevertheless take into account when making interviewing/hiring decisions.

  10. HR Exec Popping In*

    Chances are you colleagues actually intended to write the recommendation when asked, however as others have mentioned it is normal to avoid actually following through on this because a) they actually have almost zero value, b) they are public and c) to write them well it takes a good amount of effort.

    My recommendation is to accept the intent at face value but understand intent does not always equate to commitment and let it go.

    1. Knope Knope Knope*

      “a) they actually have almost zero value, b) they are public and c) to write them well it takes a good amount of effort.”

      That nicely sums up my opinion of LinkedIn recommendations. I could totally see myself agreeing to write one for someone and then letting it perpetually fall to the bottom of my to-do list for this very reason.

  11. Mina The Company Prom Queen*

    I agree that LinkedIn recommendations don’t often tell the whole story. One of the most vile people I’ve ever worked with had something like 20 recommendations on his LinkedIn page. And some of the best people I’ve worked with didn’t have any. LinkedIn recommendations are nice to have, but I wouldn’t place a lot of importance on them.

  12. Richard Hershberger*

    Only a quarter drop the ball? Three-quarters actually come through? That is amazing! The book equivalent is Amazon or Goodreads reader reviews, which are very important for selling books. When someone has kind words for my book, I routinely suggest they write a reader review. Only a tiny fraction do. There really isn’t a good way to press the matter. Those have have come through have been very positive, with the sorts of reviews that I would find helpful as a prospective buyer, so I have no real complaints. This just is how things are.

    1. Laure*

      Richard Hershberger, I am in the same business with the same issue, but I am more manipulative about it. If a writer told me, “Oh, if you liked my book, leave a review” I would agree politely, but I would feel pressured… And never do it, out of a sort of absurd feeling of rebellion.
      So when someone tells me they like my books, I don’t ask them for anything, but later, if the conversation allows it, I mention how important readers’ feedback is, for instance, how Goodreads and Amazon reviews influence sales… And then, sometimes they say “I will write one!” and because it’s “their” idea, the follow up is better.
      Told like this, the method sounds really unsubtle. Imagine it done in a subtle manner. :D

    2. Erin*

      I went to find your book out of curiosity and now I’ve done my Father’s Day shopping early!

  13. LadyByTheLake*

    Linked In recommendations are so freaking worthless. A few years ago, someone went on my Linked In page and wrote about how great I am at llama grooming. She thought she was doing me a favor because she knew I was looking for work and somehow got the mistaken idea that I groom llamas. I’ve never groomed a llama in my life, although my field is somewhat llama grooming adjacent. Then a bunch of other folks (who don’t even work in my field) went in and clicked a bunch of specialties for me that relate to llama grooming and some even had the audacity to write recommendations, so now I have a whole bunch of recommendations about my llama grooming expertise, when that isn’t a thing I’ve ever done. I would be annoyed about it except that it is clear to me that no one has ever looked at the recommendations because no one has ever (ever) asked about llama grooming.

    1. Allypopx*

      I know you’re anonymizing but god I want to take this story at face value

    2. Alexis Rosay*

      Lol. I have a bunch of endorsements for my skill at translating Llama Llanguage from people who don’t speak it themselves and therefore would have no idea if I’m a good translator or not.

  14. Teekanne aus Schokolade*

    Never once looked at Linkedin recommendations while recruiting (military contractor), and OP’s letter came off a bit like wanting to get their yearbook signed before they left. Leave thank you notes for your colleagues, OP, it will go farther when you do need references :)

  15. TWW*

    If someone asked me to me to exchange LinkedIn recommendations, I might agree in the moment, but really I’d be thinking, “Wait… is that a thing?”

    1. Marny*

      This. And then I’d forget the conversation about 5 seconds later because I was only agreeing as a way of being polite.

  16. Hiring Mgr*

    I don’t know if people look at LI recs or not, but when people have asked me to write them, to make it easier I’ve asked them to write it up and then I’ll give it a once-over and edit a bit

    1. Elle by the sea*

      Ah, academic advisors do this often in PhD applications. It is really hard to write a recommendation about yourself, especially if you are from a culture where it’s a sin to talk about your own accomplishments.

  17. Raincoaster*

    I once got a LinkedIn recommendation for, if memory serves, covert ops and nuclear weapons expertise. It was so funny I left it up,

      1. Raincoaster*

        Thanks! The guy who wrote it is a bit of an industry celeb so I hope it was worth it.

  18. Cat Tree*

    LW, it seems like you are mass-soliciting these. Thus is a case where quality matters more than quantity. Most hiring isn’t a popularity contest where the person with the most public recommendations gets the job or at least an interview. How many people did you ask? If a quarter of the people is plural, that’s at least 8 total. I’m imagining closer to 20 though. It’s unlikely that so many people are really that familiar with your work.

    Ask a few select people to list as references and confirm their contact info. Choose people who can give meaningful evaluations of work. That generally means direct manager, peers you work with closely, possibly people you have trained, and possibly someone from another department that has had to sign off on your work if that’s applicable. Three meaningful references is a good goal, although two might be enough if this was your first job.

  19. Pikachu*

    I’m definitely guilty of saying I’d do it and forgetting about it. Sometimes I intend to take a bit of time to think of a good response and just forget, but it’s usually the simple fact that I barely visit LinkedIn more than once a week so I just forget.

    OP, perhaps you should try requesting recommendations directly through LI. Ask first, and if they say yes, follow up with the LinkedIn tool and remind them in the message that they agreed. Then you can leave the nudges to finish them up to the site, not yourself.

  21. Chauncy Gardener*

    I think there is a big difference between an endorsement (which I think is silly) and a real recommendation from your boss or grandboss. To me, it means they’re willing, in a public forum, to provide you with what amounts to a reference. Frankly, I would only ask for recommendations from folks above me in the food chain, otherwise they’re not worth anything. When I was consulting, I didn’t need references or a resume, because folks would just look at my profile, with a recommendation from my boss and/or grandboss from every job and once I interviewed, I was in.

    1. Pikachu*

      I have 22 social media “endorsements.” More than any other category. I don’t even have a facebook account.

  22. iBarley*

    Honestly……. I loathe when people ask me for LinkedIn recommendations.

    I have been a reference a gazillion times (lots of practicum/internship supervisions!), but I have only ever been asked for LI recommendations in … uncomfortable circumstances. Like the boss who was fired asked me for one when I sent a message saying I was sorry to hear she was no longer at the company (which I get because she was job hunting, but it just felt like an uncomfortable power dynamic, knowing I still worked there) or the HR person who reached out to ask me for one after I left our company because it was abusive and toxic (which I had spoken to her multiple times about, to no avail).

    This is my anecdotal experience, I don’t think everyone who requests LI recco’s is inherently a bad employee. But I just hate them and dread being asked and anyone I’ve genuinely helped network/recommend/been a reference for has never, ever asked.

  23. Elle by the sea*

    I think there isn’t much to read into it. Many people find it really hard to write a good, informative and glow recommendation, especially when it will appear on a public platform. They will take much longer because it’s a lot more stressful to write something that will be available to a wider audience. It usually took me a few hours to write a LinkedIn recommendation for a person whose work I was really impressed by. Most people haven’t returned my favour yet, even though they promised to do so and were clearly happy with my work. It’s a hard and time consuming task for many people – be patient with them.

  24. NewHerePleaseBeNice*

    Only last week I was asked by a colleague how to go about writing a recommendation on LinkedIn – he’s a pretty savvy manager who does A LOT of hiring but he’d no idea that recommendations were a thing until he was asked by a former employee.

    Tl;dr I’m not sure many people take notice of LinkedIn recs!

    1. The New Wanderer*

      If someone asked me how to do it, I’d say not to put a lot of effort into it. The typical LI recommendation, IME, is one or two lines about being how X is awesome at [role] without much context or how the author really enjoyed working with X. Kind of the equivalent of saying something nice about an acquaintance but with a professional spin. The recs likely don’t help set someone apart from other candidates in a hiring situation, if they’re even seen.

      That employee should have asked for the manager to be a reference, if they didn’t already, since that’s far more meaningful.

  25. Daisy-dog*

    An issue for me is that it is open-ended. If you’re a reference, then you get asked specific questions to guide where to go with answers. On Linked In, I just don’t know where to start. Maybe you could remind then and give them a specific item that you want to hype up for your job hunt. If you’re looking for a Llama Grooming Specialist role and you’ve only been a Llama Grooming Assistant, then ask your colleagues to remark on a specific project where you were leading a specific complex grooming task. Otherwise, you may get recommendations that use generic descriptors like “reliable” or “trustworthy” which doesn’t really paint a picture.

  26. Sunflower*

    I don’t care much about LinkedIn, it’s just another social media presence that’s becoming very braggy and political.

    I wouldn’t read someone’s recommendations. Half of them are random or perhaps someone you worked with one time for a month.

  27. ElleKay*

    LinkedIn recommendations aren’t something I look at or put any real stock in.
    If I’m checking references I want to talk to your references; not read something that could be years old.

    I’ve always thought LinkedIn was more useful as a way to stay “in touch” with professional contacts so that, years down the line, you could reconnect when you might want to list them as a reference for a *call*

  28. Hypnotist Collector*

    This happened to me last year. Our company was shut down by its parent, leaving well over 100 people out of work, but we had two months notice, so there was generally a lot of support, at least verbal support. I invited people to review my LinkedIn connections (I’m old and a good connector, so I have 1500+ connections there) so I could introduce them to anyone they wanted to meet, and I offered to write recommendations for people, which I did for those who asked. I also asked several people to write recommendations for me. None did. One of those people is a friend, and I pointed out to her that she hadn’t done it, and got a vague “Oh, didn’t you get it? I was sure I sent it.” It really hurt me. I am much older than my colleagues were and I felt like they thought I didn’t deserve to get another job (and sure enough, I haven’t, while virtually all of them have).

  29. LinkedInSaga*

    Did you verbally ask or did u send them a invite link from linked in to write you a recommendation?

    If former, follow up with latter.. if latter, talk to them verbally individually if they can write u one.

    Most ppl want to, but put it off and forget. But when followed up, they might write u one. Out of the 50 ppl I asked, 3 wrote me very nice recommendation. Not that it mattered for job, it made me feel good that I am recommendable.

  30. AEK*

    I’ve looked at Linked in recommendations a few times for more client-facing work. Like, a contractor who doesn’t have a whole business website but has client recommendations on linked in. I thought that was a decent way to handle that kind of need. Otherwise, I’ll be the millionth person to say they aren’t worth that much. let it go.

  31. OfficeMom*

    Maybe it’s not them?

    At my workplace, we are not allowed to leave LinkedIn recommendations – or give references – unless the parting employee has signed a waiver acknowledging that they don’t actually know if everything said will be positive.

    The reason I know this is that I left a recommendation for a former colleague and was then asked to take it down because they hadn’t signed the waiver. Now I always check!

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