How to write a good LinkedIn recommendation?

Recommendations on LinkedIn are one of the most important aspects when it comes to having an attractive profile and that is why we are going to show you the process to make them with quality and stand out.

The importance of knowing how to recommend on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a digital space where professionals do professional things.

In other words, we look for jobs or talents to work with, we continuously train and inform ourselves, and we build professional relationships.

With these uses, it is logical that on LinkedIn there is a space for recommendations, which are the social proof about the people with whom a professional relationship exists or existed; as well as about their skills and the way in which they impacted the project or company in which both parties collaborated.

Is it good to have recommendations on Linkedin?

LinkedIn recommendations are as or more relevant than other sections of the profile such as employment history, education and certified skills, as they are entirely about third-party insight and experience rather than self-referential accomplishments or highlights.

It could be said that they are the professional version of the product review that we find in many E-commerce.

Although it seems that anyone can write a recommendation, it is common to find yourself a few minutes in front of the keyboard with a blank mind or trying to make sense of all the ideas you want to capture.

If you want to know what to put in a LinkedIn recommendation and thus improve your networking skills, this is your must-read guide to LinkedIn recommendation questions and examples.

Use it to write your recommendations, or even to suggest your contacts to follow it when recommending you.

What is the nature of the professional relationship?

Although this is a space in which it is recommended to be concise, to answer this question there are at least three key items that should be given in detail:

• How or where we met,
• What type of project or company we work on together,
• Duration of the project or collaboration.

In general, it is about putting in context the professional relationship from which the recommendation itself stems, let’s say it is a kind of introduction.

Examples of how to describe the nature of a professional relationship

“For 5 years, Rodrigo helped us get more clients by writing attractive mailings for SentThatMailNow campaigns…”

It may be that the parties are aware of a project of which it is not possible to disclose details. If that is the case, here are some examples of how to display the nature of the professional relationship without violating any confidentiality agreements:

“I worked with Vanessa for 1 year in the area of content creation oriented to the sports area, during that time…”

“Julio and I coincided for three campaigns in the team of advisors of a well-known politician…”

2. What made this person stand out?

Recommending others is not something to be taken lightly, it is a statement you make for others, attesting to your qualification to perform certain tasks.

That is why it is recommended to be completely transparent and leave ratings only to people who really stand out in some way.

These may be strictly work-related skills such as mastery of specific techniques or knowledge specific skills or knowledge, or also some skills that are strictly work-related.or some more general more general traits but that help in the work, such as:

• Leadership
• Integrity
• Self-control
• Public speaking
• Soft skills
• Ability to work under pressure

Examples of testimonials of how others excel in their work

“The best impression I have of Alberto is his timely communication. When he didn’t know something, he wasn’t afraid to ask; if he couldn’t meet a deadline, he communicated it early enough to correct any planning. In addition, he was always available to…”

“Claudia has many skills that helped improve the script of our call center, but probably the most relevant was his ability to deal with really angry customers. Some even asked to be specifically addressed by her in subsequent contacts.”

3. What were the achievements?

Although there is richness in the descriptions and assessments given so far, expressing the goals achieved and milestones reached helps to give objectivity to a recommendation.

The important thing is to highlight the quantitative aspect, the numbers and great quantifiable achievements.

Examples to express achievements

“… During those years, our Spanish website traffic doubled. In addition, we managed to rank more than 40 articles on the first page of Google results and our DA increased 10 points.”

“The strategies applied Paula managed to triple the number of followers on our Instagram account, while on Facebook the increase was 120%. In addition, we saw a significant increase in the engagement which led to a 45% increase in sales through social media.”

4. Did this person grow up in any way?

Unfortunately, some jobs or projects do not make us grow no matter how many things we learn.

However, there are others who prove to be transformational. And it is always satisfying to have that growth recognized by others.

This is a very important point to highlight, especially in the case of recommendations made by direct superiors, bosses or clients.

Examples of how to tell stories of development and growth

“Nicolas came with the best willingness to learn from day one, this helped him to be appointed sales team leader after a few months…”

“During her time at the company, Sofia was part of several departments, although it was in the warehouse area where she was able to show her true potential to lead work teams, where she was able to…

5. What is beyond the professional?

It is likely that we have all worked with someone who has an excellent resume, really impressive skills, but is not a very pleasant person to work with.

There are organizations and individuals who value this highly, so it has become relevant to give feedback in LinkedIn recommendations.

It is even a space that some professionals take advantage of to leave a promising message about the future of young talents.

Examples of extra-professional information in a recommendation

“… and all this, José Luis always did it with a smile on his face. It is a pleasure to have someone like that in a work team. He certainly has the profile to lead customer service teams.”

“There were stages of the project where the stress level was high due to deadlines and corrections by the client. However, Gabriela always kept calm and that encouraged us to do the same…”

6. Extra: your recommendation to the LinkedIn community

It seems obvious to some, but in the eagerness to create a good recommendation note (and sometimes over embellish it), we leave out just the actual recommendation that is made to the LinkedIn community.

Add it to the end of your recommendations to achieve a closure that gives firmness to everything you wrote before.

Examples of final sentence of recommendation

“If you need a leader in your sales team, to help you put certain things in order, Maria Eugenia is ideal for that.”

“Adalberto showed he has all the skills of an expert recruiter, plus he has very up to date knowledge. I recommend without hesitation to work with him.”

This is what a good recommendation looks like on LinkedIn

Finally, when you write a LinkedIn recommendation in which you:

• Describes the professional relationship between the parties
• Expresses the strengths of the recommended
• Exhibits achievements
• Shows growth
• Speaks of the person beyond the professional
• Recommend the person to the LinkedIn community.

You get a text like this:

“Agustin was part of El Mensajero Media’s team of regional events editors for 4 years. His investigative journalistic work is on par with the most experienced communicators I have known. More than 300 articles were published under his name and we constantly received emails from readers expressly requesting him to address various topics of local interest. He was nominated for the Regional Journalism Award twice, and for three consecutive years he had the most read story on our website. He is always punctual, polite and cooperative with fellow editors. Without a doubt, he is ready to inform the readers of a newspaper with a larger national reach.”

You can even come up with something that answers the big questions posed here, but in a more summarized form.

This is especially useful for those who want to keep to a strictly professional line.

“I was looking on freelance platforms for a professional copywriter with a perfect command of English, that’s how I found Katerine. During three years, he wrote more than 500 texts for me, many of them exceeding the expected traffic expectations. His evolution in terms of persuasive writing was remarkable, as well as the development of SEO skills. It even helped me train new copywriters. Despite the pressure, he maintained his good humor and always came up with new ideas. It’s a pleasure to work with her, she made my job as an SEO specialist much easier.”

In this second example you will notice that some elements are out of the suggested order. However, they are present to highlight what is really important.

Of course, the nature of some professional relationships on LinkedIn makes it more difficult to get to know each other personally, as well as some types of collaborations where the qualitative may be more valuable than highlighting logos quantitatively.

It is also necessary to consider that everyone is effusive, expressive or communicative at his or her own levelSo a recommendation could be very good and still be written in many different ways.

Finally, keep in mind that recommending on LinkedIn is not only useful to be in your profile on this social network. If you have a professional website, you can share some on it, so that visitors can see it.

And if someone decides to do that with a LinkedIn recommendation you’ve left, you’re sure to receive an email or message requesting your authorization.