Now that the Endorsements feature on LinkedIn has been around for a while, it’s been interesting watching the activity among my connections. It’s a good feeling being endorsed for my skills and expertise. Some people are even endorsing me (and others) for skills I know they haven’t experienced with me, but it’s nice to know that they feel confident in my abilities. 🙂 And, of course, I’m endorsing people for the skills and expertise I believe they possess and which fit with their core business.
I’ve also noticed that some people are being endorsed for skills that I doubt they would put on a resume or use when meeting with potential clients. Such as the business consultant who is being endorsed for “Dashboard”, whatever that means (he didn’t know either). Or the bookkeeper I know who is getting a lot of endorsements for her social media marketing skills. It’s true that this bookkeeper does use social media to promote her business, and she does a good job of it. However, when I asked her if social media marketing was one of her present or future services, she confirmed that, no, she was sticking with bookkeeping. We then had a discussion about the skills for which she really wants endorsements (and appearance in searches by other LinkedIn users), such as Quickbooks, Accounts Payable, Accounting, etc.
This brings me to my next question: Are you being endorsed (and found) for the skills you really want on LinkedIn? If not, what can you do about it?
Keep in mind that if you hadn’t listed Skills and Expertise on your profile previously, LinkedIn may have filled some in for you based on your summary and experience. So, take a look at your profile and see if the Skills and Expertise listed are really ones that speak about what you do and offer to others.
This video gives you tips on how to modify your profile to highlight your most important skills and expertise.