LinkedIn allows you to select up to 50 skills and highlight them in the Skills & Endorsements section of your profile. Once you’ve chosen which skills you want to emphasis, your first-degree LinkedIn connections can endorse you for those competencies. Including skill endorsements in your profile can help you rank higher in LinkedIn search, build your personal brand, and attract the attention of recruiters and hiring managers.
LinkedIn Endorsements vs. Recommendations
First, it’s important to know that skill endorsements are different from LinkedIn recommendations. A recommendation on LinkedIn is a written reference supporting you and your work. It typically involves a few sentences (or a of couple paragraphs) published on your profile. You might consider this a virtual recommendation letter for all to see. Endorsements are relatively easy to provide—all it takes is one click. However, you do not want to be endorsed for every skill imaginable. Choose only skills that you want to emphasize to hiring managers. On a similar note, you shouldn’t be too quick to endorse everyone you know for every skill. You may not actually be helping them highlight the skills they want hiring managers to see.
Endorsements on Your LinkedIn Profile
When someone wants to endorse you, LinkedIn will offer suggestions on which skills to endorse you for (e.g. blogging, Adobe Photoshop, product development, etc.). The endorsements you receive will be listed on your profile in a section called Skills & Endorsements (listed under Education and before Recommendations). How helpful are skill endorsements? While it is difficult to quantify just how endorsements will influence recruiters or employers that review your profile, it is safe to say three things:
How to Get the Right Skill Endorsements
It’s important that the skill endorsements you get are a match for your abilities and experience. The best way to set up your profile to get accurate skill endorsements is to start by itemizing a wide selection of critical skills and knowledge assets on your profile so you can give potential endorsers plenty of options. Make sure you cover as many skills areas as possible within your industry, especially if you are transitioning to a new field.
LinkedIn Endorsement Examples
LinkedIn categorize your skills into five areas:
Top SkillsIndustry KnowledgeTools & TechnologiesInterpersonal SkillsOther Skills
Try to incorporate a combination of both general and specialized skills into your list of skills open for endorsement. If you are branching out into a new field and don’t yet possess many specialized skills, make sure you include as many transferable skills as possible.
How to Get Skill Endorsements
One of the best ways to get skill endorsements on LinkedIn is to endorse others, particularly those that have had seen you use your skills. LinkedIn members receive an email notification when endorsements are added to their profile, and this helps you get noticed.
Sample Message Requesting an Endorsement
You also can send a simple private message, such as:
How to Turn Off Skill Endorsements
You can choose which skill endorsements to show on your profile—or opt out of them completely. You might have noticed that I recently added endorsements to your profile. I am building up that component of my profile and would love to have any endorsements which you might feel comfortable adding given our past working relationship. Specifically, I am seeking endorsement for [the following skills]. Since I want to be a help to you, as well, please let me know if there is/are skill(s) that you would like more endorsements for. Thank you! Mary Here’s how to opt out of specific skill endorsements:
Click the Me icon at the top of the LinkedIn homepageClick View ProfileScroll down to Skills & EndorsementsClick the name of the specific skill you’d like to remove from your profileHide endorsements by toggling to the right of the connection whose endorsement you wish to remove
And here’s how to turn off all endorsements:
Click the Me icon at the top of the LinkedIn homepageClick View ProfileScroll down to Skills & EndorsementsClick the Edit iconClick Adjust Endorsement SettingsToggle the “I want to be endorsed” option to NoClick the X in the right corner to save
How to Turn Off Endorsement Notifications
If you don’t want your email cluttered with notifications about the endorsements you’re getting, you can turn them off. Here’s how:
Click the Me icon at the top of the LinkedIn homepageSelect Settings & PrivacyClick the Communications sectionClick On LinkedIn, Email, or PushClick ProfileUse the Edit icon to turn off or change the frequency of notifications
How to Delete and Add Skills
It’s a good idea for you to go through your Skills & Endorsements list on a regular basis. Scroll down the section on your profile and click the pencil icon on the right-hand side. Set top skills. LinkedIn allows you to select three skills as your top skills. To make a skill a top skill, click on the pin icon on the left of the skill. It will go from white to blue and move to the top your skills list. This lets people know that you want to be known for these skills above all others. Remove skills. As you scroll through your list of skills, you may notice some that you do not want on your profile. Simply click the trash can icon on the right to remove them. Reorder skills. If you want to reorder your skills, you can select the four lines icon on the right, click and drag to the spot you want it to stay. Add a skill. To add a skill, close out of the edit skills box and select the Add a New Skill on right of the Skills & Endorsements section. LinkedIn will suggest some skills (based on your experience), or you may type in skills that you want listed. Remember that LinkedIn allows for you to list up to 50 skills.
