LinkedIn Endorsements are a mixed bag. On the one hand, they provide a picture of the "Skills" your connections think you possess, which provides insight into how well you are branding yourself to your network. On the other hand, they can paint a skewed picture of your abilities.
For those of you who haven't been following LinkedIn's feature barrage of recent years, here's how Endorsements work: Sally Jones (one of your many tenuous 1st degree connections) is on LinkedIn. The prompt window “suggests” she endorse you for a few skills, some of which are specific to your expertise, others that are simply generic (e.g., "Strategy"), and still others that have little to do with your capabilities. Sally, thinking she’s being helpful, clicks away and before you know it, you have yet another potentially irrelevant Endorsement. Certainly this is annoying, but more importantly, it misrepresents you to anyone who visits your 21st century CV... (ahem) I mean, LinkedIn profile.
So, what to do?
1. Accept Sally's Endorsements, publish them on your profile, and dilute your brand. This is the silliest option. It's also the one most people unconsciously opt into.
2. Accept the Endorsements but don't publish them to your profile. (Smarter than option 1, but requires that you do this thing called paying attention.)
3. Simply decline the Endorsements altogether.
4. Email Sally, thank her for the Endorsements, and let her know that your primary area of expertise is actually (fill in the blank). Then ask her about her primary area of expertise so you can get to know her better. This not only deepens your interaction with her, it increases the chances that you will think of one another for appropriate business opportunities.
There you have it: four options. Because you have nothing better to do than manage social media. And don't blame Sally for the busywork. The real culprit is LinkedIn’s prompting mechanism. Oh, and if you're feeling mischievous, consider endorsing your competitors for "Incompetence." (Okay, I'm kidding.)
Authored by David Ackert
