LinkedIn is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful tools in your career arsenal. LinkedIn can showcase your achievements, your roles, and your education. It can also highlight your skills, publications, patents, and, perhaps most importantly, your recommendations. Recommendations on LinkedIn can truly bolster your appearance on the social media platform, but they can be a challenge to get a hold of. Here’s a step by step guide on how to ask for a LinkedIn recommendation.
Connect with Others
The first step to ask for a LinkedIn recommendation is that you must be connected with the individual on the platform. That is a simple process, and one you should connect with everyone you have worked with or met in a professional setting. Coworkers, supervisors, contacts at other departments or companies, and those in the field. A lot of connections can be made on LinkedIn, too!
The basic rule of LinkedIn is that if you have worked with them in some capacity, you should connect. This rule can be extended to classmates, professors, teachers, and tutors, as well. Beyond that, looser connections can be applied. One way to think of LinkedIn is to treat it similarly to other social media sites, like Facebook (though they are very different sites). If you would be “Facebook friends” with someone in a professional setting, consider being LinkedIn connections as well.
Build a Connection with Potential Recommenders
Now that you have your connections with others, it is time to cull the herd a bit. Obviously, you are not going to ask everyone of your connections for a recommendation. This is where you really think about your connections and how you work(ed) with others. Don’t ask for recommendations willy-nilly – there needs to be a process.
Before you ask for a LinkedIn recommendation, ask yourself a few questions. Have you worked closely with this individual? Has a project been completed, or near completion, that you both dedicated yourselves to? Did you swoop-in and solve a problem, save a project, or “save the day” in some capacity? Have you been an outstanding supervisor, coworker, employee, or independent contractor? When you ask yourself those questions, and ask if the potential recommender is a part of that equation, then go a head and reach out and ask for a LinkedIn recommendation.
How to Ask for a LinkedIn Recommendation
Now that you have your list of people to ask for a LinkedIn recommendation, the next step is a brief, adaptable script. Start off simple: (re)introduce yourself and how you know each other. This is vital, especially if it has been a while since you spoke. Next, talk about why you want this LinkedIn recommendation. Is it so you can get more engagement on the platform, or are you aiming for a promotion or new role? Giving some context can be essential for a building that connection within the recommendation request itself.
Perhaps the most important part comes next: reminded the recommender why they should recommend you. What did you both accomplish together? What problem was solved or project completed? Then, take it a step further: what skills were used during that instance? Did you prove your resourcefulness, your dedication, or your rapport-building? Were there hard skills involved? Giving the recommender a couple pointers will make them infinitely more likely to recommend you. By giving them some pointers, but not forcing them to use them, you have done the hard part of their job for them.
Finally, offer them a way out. Close out your request with a “if you’re not comfortable for whatever reason, don’t worry about” or something similar. Include a message about wanting to reconnect or wishing them well in their own endeavors, and/or offer to return the favor.
The point of a LinkedIn recommendation is to make it personal, all while keeping it professional. Connect with people on LinkedIn, build a real connection with them, and then ask them for a recommendation. The simplest tasks often take a toll on our social batteries, but they are essential for living in our career-driven world.
