- Credibility: Recommendations add credibility to your profile. When someone else vouches for your skills and abilities, it’s seen as more authentic and trustworthy than if you simply list your skills and accomplishments yourself.
- Validation of Skills: Recommendations can validate the skills you’ve listed on your profile. When a professor, mentor, or colleague endorses your skills, it demonstrates that you have the practical abilities you claim.
- Showcase Your Strengths: Recommendations give others insight into your strengths, both in terms of hard skills (e.g., coding, project management) and soft skills (e.g., teamwork, leadership). They provide examples of how you’ve demonstrated these qualities in real-world situations.
- Networking: Seeking recommendations is a great way to engage with your network. It prompts you to reach out to professors, mentors, classmates, and colleagues, fostering valuable connections that can extend beyond LinkedIn.
- Stand Out in Job Searches: When recruiters and potential employers review your profile, recommendations can set you apart from other candidates. Positive reviews can make you a more attractive candidate.
- Tell Your Story: Recommendations can tell a story about your professional journey. You can use them to illustrate how you’ve grown, what you’ve accomplished, and how you’ve made an impact.
- Build Trust: Trust is a critical factor in professional relationships. Recommendations build trust because they offer a third-party perspective on your abilities and character.
- Here are some tips on how to make the most of recommendations on your student’s LinkedIn profile
- Request Recommendations Thoughtfully: Reach out to people who are familiar with your work and can provide specific examples of your skills and achievements. Personalize your requests, explaining why their recommendation would be meaningful.
- Offer to Write Recommendations: Sometimes, offering to write a recommendation for someone else can prompt them to write one for you in return. Be sincere and thoughtful in your recommendations for others.
- Diversify Your Recommendations: Try to get recommendations from a variety of sources, such as professors, internship supervisors, classmates, and colleagues. This showcases a well-rounded skill set.
- Highlight Key Achievements: Encourage recommenders to mention specific projects or accomplishments you want to emphasize on your profile.
- Keep Recommendations Updated: As you gain more experience and skills, periodically ask for updated recommendations to reflect your current abilities and achievements.
- Thank Your Recommenders: After someone writes a recommendation for you, express your gratitude. This strengthens your professional relationships and encourages them to help you in the future.
- Curate Recommendations: While LinkedIn displays recommendations in the order they were received, you can choose to feature certain recommendations at the top of your profile to emphasize their importance.
How to Build a Strong Online Presence for Job Hunting | How To Make A Good LinkedIn Profile | Tips For A Fresher LinkedIn Profile
