LinkedIn Endorsements: How They Can Help And Hurt You

culled from:careerealism.com

To make sure your profile is not coming off as though you’re a candidate with a mishmash of all talents that’s been endorsed by everybody in the world (including people who know diddlysquat about you), follow these tips:

Just because you’ve been endorsed does not mean you have to accept it.

Say, for instance, you are focused in Writing for the financial services industry, but you get an endorsement for IT troubleshooting because you did a bit of that in your last job. Well, while it’s nice to know things outside of your field of work, there’s little point to including it when your focus is to look for opportunities in Writing on Financial News.
Evaluate whether the endorsement suits the work you want to be involved in rather than simply adding it and diluting the message of what your real talents are. Remember, accepted endorsements cannot be removed. The only option would be to hide them.

Guide people on how you want to be endorsed.

You can offer direction to people who want to endorse you for skills by setting up the Skills & Endorsement section. Add skills for yourself and this will help tell people what you want to be endorsed for. As you receive endorsements to the skills, the one with the most endorsements will automatically rise to the top of the list, and the next most popular ones with endorsements following after it. This is another reason why you need to be selective with what endorsements to accept.

Follow-up with contacts who’ve sent endorsements on skills you value.

Endorsements doesn’t take the place of Recommendations. Recommendations are presented as more credible information to employers reviewing your profile. After a credible contact endorses you for an important skill you value in your career, follow up with a thank you note, and send a reminder of any shared experience you’ve had that may serve the basis for a recommendation as you politely ask if they have the time and would like to expand on the endorsement with a recommendation.