I learned better manners as a kid. I am well overdue on thanking everyone for endorsing me on LinkedIn. For those of you that are looking at my profile, I am not a loser because I don’t have any endorsements (my kids will give you plenty of OTHER reasons as to why that might be the case). I have lots of endorsements so you don’t have to feel bad for me. I have just chosen not to make them visible on my profile.
I’ve received endorsements from people that I barely know. They have told me that I’m good at things that I would not consider my niche or a particular strength of mine. So why do people feel the need to endorse? Why did LinkedIn feel that this is a worthwhile service in the first place?
I understand the benefit of recommendations. To make a recommendation, someone has to take the time to write the recommendation and think about the work/relationship. That’s valuable!! Please….feel free to write a recommendation for me.
I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade. If you have a million endorsements out there that you feel you’ve earned, by all means you should feel proud. But to me, endorsements seem a little like Facebook friends. If you believe that the more Facebook friends you have the more popular you are, does that mean that the more endorsements you have the more competent you are? In my experience the former is no truer than the latter. So I’m going to hold off on accepting these endorsements for the moment. BUT… I reserve the right to change my mind.
In the meantime, I have been weighing my “fight for the cause” and may break down and display those endorsements. I’m beginning to feel a need to prove that I’m not a loser without friends…I mean endorsements.
Laura
