Adding interests

The Interests section of the LinkedIn profile is located at the very bottom of the profile and consists of Groups, Companies, Influencers, and Schools that you follow on LinkedIn. It is a place where you connect with your reader on a more personal level by adding Groups that reflect your interests and hobbies to your LinkedIn profile. I often hear clients say, “But Donna, LinkedIn isn’t Facebook; it’s professional! I don’t want to list my interests!”

Remember this: People do business with people. That’s why when you walk into another person’s office for the first time, the very first thing you do is look around. You look for pictures, plaques, trophies, memorabilia, and other objects that give you an idea of his or her personality, likes, and dislikes. As soon as you spy a commonality, you have a conversation starter. For example:

“Oh, I see you swam with dolphins. I love scuba diving. Have you been to Bermuda?”

This is how you forge a connection and build a relationship.

The Interests area allows you to connect with your reader at a deeper, more personal level, and it shows that you have a life outside of work. People love to work with people who are friendly and who lead fun and interesting lives.

The interests you choose should reflect shared characteristics with your target audience. There is no greater way to forge rapport when you have shared interests in common. I am not suggesting that you lie about your interests, but definitely determine what you have in common with your target audience and showcase it in the Interests area.

In addition to shared interests, the interests you choose should reflect how you want to be perceived by your target audience. Prove you are the leader you say you are by choosing interests that reflect the qualities of a leader, like boat captain, Little League coach, or Grand Poohbah of the Loyal Order of Water Buffalo. If you want to appear technically savvy, join Groups that focus on technology and computers.

As you choose your Groups, keep your target audience in mind. If your target audience is comprised of animal lovers and members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), you may decide not to join the boar hunting group on LinkedIn. As much as I am a believer in authenticity and truth, there are times when you must be smart with the information you share. If an Group you join or Influencer you follow has the potential to spark worry or requires a discussion to explain, it’s best to leave it off your profile.

When you join Groups related to politics and religion or post status updates on the subject, you risk alienating half of your audience. Even though you may have a strong connection to either, it’s sometimes best to leave these interests off your profile entirely.

Here’s how to add interests to your LinkedIn profile:

1. Open LinkedIn.

2. Click in the search bar at the top of the page and type in an interest.

   A drop-down menu appears that shows you Groups, Companies, and People that match. If a result matches your query, click it. Otherwise, click the magnifying glass to enter see all search results.

3. Click either Company or Groups to narrow your results.
4. Scroll through the search results and select a Group or Company that is focused on your interest.

5. If you choose a Group, click Ask to Join, if you choose a Company, click Follow.

   By choosing Groups and Companies that reflect your interests, they populate at the bottom of your profile, as shown in Figure 12-1. LinkedIn only displays six interests selected at random. Each time you refresh the page the interests will change depending on whether you choose to follow more than six Companies, Influencers, Schools, and Groups.

Now that you have your interests documented in your LinkedIn profile, you can now discover other professionals with similar interests. Here’s how:

1. Open your LinkedIn profile.

2. At the top of your profile, click the blue View Profile As button.

   Your profile now appears as a connection would see it.

3. Scroll to the Interests area in the Additional Information section and click one of the hyperlinked interests.

   LinkedIn takes you to a search results page of profiles containing that term.

4. In the right sidebar, place a check mark next to 1st Connections.

   LinkedIn filters the list by first-degree connections.

5. Scroll through the list to see which of your first-degree connections share this interest with you.

   This is great information. Knowing you have commonality, perhaps you want to ask that client to a round of Frisbee golf?

Providing details that show you are human

The next two fields in the Additional Information section are where you add your birthday and marital status. If you don’t already have these fields on your LinkedIn profile, here’s how to add them:

1. Open your LinkedIn profile.

2. Click the pencil (edit) icon next to Contact and Personal Info located in the right sidebar of your profile.

   The Edit Contact Info dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 12-2 where you can update your personal details.

3. Enter your birthday month and day in the drop-down lists, as shown in Figure 12-3.

Your birthday is an event that LinkedIn recognizes and alerts your network so that they can wish you “Happy Birthday!” On my last birthday, my assistant calculated that over 500 birthday greetings arrived in my LinkedIn Messages from my LinkedIn network.

I highly recommend filling out the Birthday field because it offers the potential for networking and an excuse to get back in touch with people. Plus, LinkedIn doesn’t ask for your birth year, so your age isn’t front and center, just that you are celebrating a birthday. All you have to do is click the down arrows to select the month and date.

The Marital Status field is an informational field. It isn’t searchable within LinkedIn’s advanced search. There is potential for it to be used in audience targeting for LinkedIn advertisements; however, currently LinkedIn doesn’t offer marital status as criteria for advertisement targeting.

To fill out the Marital Status field, all you do is click the down arrow and choose Married or Single. If your status is something different, select “Choose …” to keep the field blank.

The decision to fill out the Marital Status field is one you should approach strategically. When I was single, I left the field blank. My reasoning at that time was that I didn’t want to advertise being single. LinkedIn isn’t a dating site, and I didn’t want people getting the wrong impression. In addition, I felt people might see me as less stable and mature. Now I am married, but I continue to keep my marital status off my profile because I don’t want people thinking I am not as committed to my business as I am to my marriage.

Working in a conservative industry where married people are viewed more favorably, it may serve you to add this piece of information to your profile. On the flip side, there are industries where those who are not married are favored, and you may either want to omit your married status or, if you are single, tout that instead.

You have control over who sees the contents of these fields. By clicking the lock icon next to the Birthday and Marital Status fields, you are able to set the visibility to:

• Only Me (Birthday field only)
• My Connections
• My Network
• Everyone

By selecting Everyone, anyone who views your profile, regardless of whether he or she is connected to you or not, sees the contents of the fields. Selecting My Connections means that only people who are directly connected to you see the contents of the fields. If you choose My Network, your first-, second-, and third-degree network and members who are in the same LinkedIn Groups as you see this information. Figure 12-4 shows you what this screen looks like.

The Additional Information section doesn’t appear on your public profile, so people viewing your profile who are not logged in to LinkedIn can’t see this information. Think it through and decide if it behooves you to fill these fields in. If you are not comfortable letting people know this information, leave the fields blank.

Offering advice for contacting you

The next area within the Additional Information section is Advice for Contacting. This is a fantastic field that few people ever fill out. This area doesn’t show up on your public profile, but it is visible to your LinkedIn network. Just as the name implies, this is where you tell your audience why and how to contact you directly.

Success on LinkedIn is getting off of LinkedIn. It’s in the real world where strong relationships are forged. The Advice for Contacting section helps your reader get off of LinkedIn and start down the path toward real-world communication with you. When you let people know why and how to contact you, you open the door for opportunity.

Rather than leaving it up to your readers, tell them why they should contact you. If you are a job seeker, you can state, “To learn more about my professional history, please request my resume.” Or, “If you have a job opportunity to discuss, please contact me directly.” If you are on LinkedIn as a salesperson, you might state, “If you are interested in learning more about our services and pricing, contact me today.” A thought leader might use, “If you are interested in having me speak at an event, or if you are looking for a snappy quote or interview subject for a news article, please feel free to contact me.”

Not everyone prefers the phone. Do you pay more attention to text messages? Do you rarely check voicemail but always check email? Is Skype your communication mode of choice? This is information to share with your readers so they know the most successful way to reach you.

Subtlety doesn’t work here. Instead, be direct. For example:

The best way to reach me is via Skype. My username is donna.serdula. If email is better for you, my address is[email protected].

Here’s how to edit the Advice for Contacting section:

1. Open your LinkedIn profile.

   If you have already added information to the Additional Information section, go to Step 3. If you don’t have this section on your profile yet, continue to Step 2.

2. Click the Additional Information section that appears toward the top of your profile to add the Advice for Contacting section to your profile page.

   You may need to click View More to find this section.

3. Scroll to the Advice for Contacting section, hover your mouse pointer below Advice for Contacting, and click the pencil (edit) icon to enter into edit mode.

4. Click your mouse inside the text field and start typing your advice to your readers.

   Figure 12-5 shows you an example of great advice on how to contact me.

5. Click the Save button.

The Advice for Contacting section is visible to your full LinkedIn network. This provides the possibility that your phone number or email address might be used for marketing or nefarious purposes. However, there is an even better chance that your contact information will be used to benefit you.

Recruiters, reporters, event planners, hiring managers, angel investors, long-lost colleagues, donors, and others will use it to reach you. If I haven’t changed your mind about including your contact information in the Advice for Contacting section, read Chapter 5, where I provide alternative contact information ideas for those troubled by identification theft fears.

Blocking people from viewing your profile

It’s not always identity theft that stops LinkedIn users from wanting to provide their contact information on their profiles. There are times when someone may be dealing with a stalker or an abusive person. In these situations, LinkedIn does allow you to limit a person’s access to your profile and LinkedIn activity.

You can only block people from your desktop using LinkedIn’s website. LinkedIn’s mobile application does not yet allow the ability to block people.

Here’s how to block a person from seeing your profile on LinkedIn:

1. In the LinkedIn search bar, type the name of the person you want to block and click the search button.

   A list of profiles matching the name appear as search results.

2. Open the profile of the person you want to block by clicking the search result.

   When you view a person’s profile, depending on your settings, that person may be able to see that you viewed his or her profile. Once you block the person, you disappear from his or her Who’s Viewed Your Profile section.

3. Hover your mouse pointer over the More Options icon (the three dots located in the profile’s intro section) and select Report/Block from the list, as shown in Figure 12-6.

   A dialog box that asks, “What do you want to do?” appears.

4. Select the option to block the person.
5. In the next screen, click Agree to confirm your action.

When you block a person from viewing your profile, that person is not alerted and should not know anything is amiss. Only you can unblock a person you blocked. When you block a person, you won’t be able to access his or her profile, and that person won’t be able to view yours. In addition, you won’t be able to see each other’s LinkedIn activity or message one another.

If you are connected, that connection goes away along with any endorsements or recommendations that person gave to you or you gave to that person. Any previous views listed under Who’s Viewed Your Profile are wiped. Lastly, all suggestions under People You May Know or People Also Viewed stop.

The block only works when the person is logged into LinkedIn. If he or she logs off LinkedIn and accesses your public profile, that person is still able to see your public information. To keep your profile truly private, you should also hide the public version of your profile that’s visible to search engines and people not signed into LinkedIn. Check out Chapter 4 to see how to turn on and turn off your public profile.

Determining what to highlight with multimedia files

Adding multimedia to your profile is a great way to showcase your work and provide your audience with proof of your abilities. Certainly when you are in a creative field, adding work samples is pretty easy. It’s your best portfolio pieces that you upload to your Summary and individual Experiences. But what if you aren’t in a creative field?

Think in terms of your goals and target audience. If you are on LinkedIn to be seen as a thought leader and expert, upload that podcast interview or link to that video interview on YouTube. Scan that newspaper article in which you were quoted.

Looking to be seen as a leader? Upload a picture of you and your department at a team building event.

Using LinkedIn for prospecting and sales? Upload that presentation slideshow or video demo you created.

On LinkedIn for job search? Showcase your work by uploading a white paper or a dashboard report (minus any confidential or proprietary information) showing your past successes.

Make sure that what you choose makes sense to your reader. It’s best to include a title and descriptions for each multimedia file or link you attach to your profile.

Once you decide what to upload, here’s how to do it:

1. Open your profile on LinkedIn.
2. Scroll to either your Summary, Experience, or Education section where you want the multimedia work sample to reside.

3. Get into Edit mode by clicking the pencil (edit) icon next to that section.

   You can choose to either Upload or Link to your media depending on the type of media you want to embed on your profile, as shown in Figure 12-7.

4. To add a link to external media, click the Link button and paste the URL into the blank URL field and click the Save button.

5. If you prefer to upload media that resides on your hard drive, click the Upload button.

   An open dialog box appears. Locate the file on your hard drive and click the Open button.

6. Enter a title and description, as shown in Figure 12-8.
7. Click Apply then click Save.

Resisting the urge to upload your resume

You may run into “experts” who insist you upload a copy of your resume to your LinkedIn profile. I don’t agree.

You want your LinkedIn profile to be the hook that gets people to request your resume. That way, you have control and can determine who gets to have access it. Your resume contains your complete career trajectory and you don’t want just anyone able to download it.

Recruiters love it when a resume is attached to your profile — this way they can read it without ever contacting you and they can immediately dismiss you without ever talking to you. You want recruiters and hiring managers and human resources people to contact you so that you can show them you are a real person — you can ask questions and make a great impression while engaging in human contact.

However, if you decide to upload your resume to your LinkedIn profile, consider removing your home address and any confidential information you aren’t comfortable sharing with the whole wide world. Your employer may not be too keen on you publicly sharing how you singlehandedly saved them from bankruptcy twice in the past six months.

Although I don’t recommend uploading your resume to your profile, you may feel otherwise. If you are clear on the reasons not to and still think it makes sense to do, here’s how:

1. Open your LinkedIn profile.

2. Move your mouse pointer over the section to which you want to add your resume and click the pencil (edit) icon.

   I suggest uploading it to your Summary section or to your most current experience.

3. Under Media, click the Upload button.

   An Open dialog box appears.

4. Locate and select your resume file from your hard drive and click Open.

   A picture of your content displays, and sometimes LinkedIn automatically fills in the Title and Description fields with information from the file. Regardless, update the Title and Description fields to something that makes sense for your reader.

5. Click Save.

Finding the right image to showcase your brand

When choosing a LinkedIn background image, make sure the image matches your personal/professional brand and conveys your unique message. Choose images that inspire you or reflect what you do.

Here are some ideas:

• An image of the products you sell or produce
• A picture of your office building or interior
• A team photo
• An illustration or photo that shows an analogy of what you do (lighthouse, magnifying glass, owl, tree, and so on)
• A picture of you at a podium or presenting in front of an audience

The image you choose must be professional and it must reflect your personal brand.

LinkedIn’s background image is responsive, which means the image can grow and shrink depending on the screen size of the device you are using to view it. Think in terms of the screen size differences between a desktop monitor, a laptop, and a little iPhone. These different devices all have different screen sizes. Utilizing a responsive image means that your profile should look good regardless of what device is used to view it.

Because the background image is responsive, there are areas of the image that you almost always see and other areas where you may only sometimes see. This means you have to be careful with the image you select and the placement of any logos.

Figure 12-9 shows the portion of the background image that is universally visible and the areas that are sometimes visible. To download this image to use as a template, access it here: www.linkedin-makeover.com/tools/background.

When choosing your background image, make sure the focal point of the image is not located in an area that is not visible.

Depending on your goals and budget, you may want to reach out to a graphic designer for assistance. www.Fivrr.com and www.99Designs.com are two easy and affordable ways to work with graphic designers. If working with a graphic designer is outside your budget, don’t worry! It’s easy to create a background graphic yourself using free, online tools, which I discuss in the next section, “Using online graphic tools to create an image.”

Premium LinkedIn members get to choose different background images from a gallery. As wonderful it is to have already created background images, these images are overused and no longer unique. I recommend not using LinkedIn’s background images and finding something unique to you and your brand.

Using online graphic tools to create an image

When looking for an image to turn into your LinkedIn background, you must be careful not to steal. Just because you saw an image on Google search or on another person’s website doesn’t mean it’s ripe for the picking. If you found an image you truly love and is perfect for your background image, you can attempt to reach out to the creator of the image and ask permission to use it. Rather than get caught up in finding email addresses and asking permission, it’s actually easier to simply visit websites that provide royalty-free stock images.

A few of my favorite sites that specialize in free images are:

• Barn Images (http://barnimages.com)
• Raumrot (http://raumrot.com)
• Pixabay (https://pixabay.com)
• Unspash (https://unsplash.com)
• FreeImages (www.freeimages.com)
• Photocrops (www.photocrops.com)
• UHD Wallpapers (www.uhdwallpapers.org)

Have you ever heard of the old saying, “you get what you pay for?” With royalty-free stock images, the quality of images isn’t always grade A. If you aren’t finding any free images you like, you may decide to shop for images instead.

Here are a few sites where you can search and purchase professionally rendered images:

• GraphicRiver (http://graphicriver.net)
• iStock (www.istockphoto.com)
• ShutterStock (www.shutterstock.com)

Are you interested in getting a branded image from your company’s website? You can grab images off your company’s website fairly easily. Using a print screen tool like Microsoft’s Snipping Tool, which is available in the Accessories folder (if you are on a Mac, press Cmd+Shift+4), you can capture images from your website. Depending on how the website is coded, sometimes all you need to do is hover your mouse over the image, right-click your mouse, and choose Save Image As.

Regardless of how you obtained the image, you must resize it to the requisite dimensions of 798 wide by 192 pixels tall, although I recommend you double up on those pixels — 1584 by 396 — because many desktops and laptops, and most devices, have twice the pixel density than usual. Images sized incorrectly look blurry or pixelated and that comes across as very unprofessional.

My favorite free online tool for resizing images and creating interesting, personalized photo montages is Canva (www.canva.com). Canva is an online graphic design application that offers access to free and paid design tools and templates.

Here’s how to use Canva to create an interesting background image for your LinkedIn profile:

1. Visit Canva.com in your favorite browser.

   If you have never used Canva before, you need to create an account. It’s easy to sign up with your Facebook account.

2. Click Use Custom Dimension in the top-right corner of the screen.

   In the Width field enter 1584. In the Height field enter 396.

3. Click the green Design! Button.
4. Click the Uploads tool in the left sidebar.

5. Click the green “Upload Your Own Images” button.

   An Open dialog box appears.

6. Locate the background image you want to resize, highlight it, and click the Open button.

   The image uploads to Canva.

7. Locate the uploaded image and click and drag it to the white canvas on the right side of the screen.

   The image fills the canvas.

8. If the image is too small, expand the image by clicking a corner and dragging to resize it, or add another image so that it becomes a montage of images.

9. Click the Text tool in the left sidebar to add words to your image.

   Make sure the text is located in an area that is visible.

10. Once you are finished designing your image, click the Download button at the top of the screen, and in the drop-down box that appears, click Image:high quality (PNG).

    A Save As dialog box appears.

11. Select where on your hard drive you would like to save the image and click Save.

Adding a background image to your profile

Now that you have a beautiful background image, here’s how to add it to your LinkedIn profile:

1. Open your LinkedIn profile.
2. Click the pencil (edit) icon in the intro section of your profile.

3. Click the pencil (edit) icon that is located in the upper-right corner of the Background photo.

   If you do not have a background photo uploaded, an Open dialog box appears.

4. If you have a background photo uploaded that you want to replace, click the Change Photo button.

5. Locate the background image file from your hard drive and click Open.

   The image is uploaded and appears in preview mode. You can zoom or align the image by clicking on the Zoom and Straighten sliders.

6. Once you are happy with the look of your image, click Apply.

   Your background image appears at the top of your profile.

Identifying people to recommend you

The best kind of recommendation comes from employers, VIPs, or customers. These are people with a lot of things on their plates. The fact they took time and wrote you a recommendation speaks volumes and proves that you truly did something important. Recommendations by colleagues and people in lateral or lower positions are useful, but not nearly as powerful. The quid pro quo recommendation, given out of duty, impresses no one. Check out Figure 12-10 to see the types of people you should ask for a recommendation.

Here are some questions to help you identify the right people to ask for a recommendation:

• Who have you helped?
• Who have you impressed?
• Who have you inspired?
• Who have you provided value?
• Who has recently thanked you?

If you have a large list and don’t want to send a recommendation request to each and every one, here’s how to narrow the list:

• Who is on LinkedIn?
• Who has a large LinkedIn network?
• Who is active on LinkedIn?
• Who shares your target audience?

When a person writes a recommendation for you, that recommendation is also listed on that person’s profile. By making sure the person has a large network and shares your target audience means more eyes on the recommendation, which might translate to additional opportunity for you.

You can only request recommendations from people who are on LinkedIn and connected to you. However, if you want to add a recommendation from a person who is not on LinkedIn or from someone who has passed on to the great beyond, you can scan the recommendation and add it to the experience as a multimedia file. Directions on adding multimedia files are found in “Adding Multimedia to Make Your Profile POP!” earlier in this chapter.

If you were unable to come up with a list, what are you waiting for? Go out and start impressing people, help others, and start participating in random acts of kindness.

Asking for a recommendation

Now that you have a list of people to ask for a recommendation, don’t let shyness get in your way. People love helping other people and you may discover that most people are honored that you asked them to recommend you.

The best and most successful approach when asking for a recommendation is not to simply request a recommendation, but provide the person with a recommendation already written for them.

People often balk when I suggest providing a pre-written recommendation. The truth is, rather than being insulted, more often than not the other person is going to be overjoyed. The vast majority of people out there don’t have the time or ability to write you a strong recommendation. Because this person is doing you a favor, it’s important to do them a favor by making it as easy for them as possible to help you. And as you struggle to come up with the words for your own recommendation, imagine how difficult it would be for the other person!

The other reason I suggest writing the recommendation yourself is to ensure the recommendation is written with all of the points you want covered. Just because you think your leadership ability and unwavering commitment to customer service is what sets you apart, the person writing your recommendation may instead focus on something else entirely.

In addition, by writing the recommendation yourself, you can infuse the recommendation with keywords that help optimize your profile’s searchability. All those keywords can be infused into recommendations to make your profile rank even better. (Refer back to Chapter 2 to find out even more about how to get found on LinkedIn.)

If my arguments to write the recommendation yourself failed to persuade you, at the very least provide the person with some criteria as to what you’d like stated in the recommendation. Consider including language similar to this:

• Dear Dave,
• I have enjoyed working with you. Would you be open to providing me a recommendation of my work that I can include on my LinkedIn profile?
• When you write the recommendation, I would love it if you’d mention my strength in social selling and how I often acted as a trusted advisor to my clients. Perhaps you can even mention how I saved the Wiener deal using my extensive knowledge of widgets and ended up renewing them for an extra two years, which resulted in a $2M uptick in revenue?
• Thanks so much! I appreciate it!
• —Hal

When requesting a recommendation, it’s important that you request the recommendation from within LinkedIn’s interface. Whatever you do, don’t send the request for a recommendation via an outside email address. Emailing the request makes it difficult for your contact to figure out how to provide the recommendation. By sending the request from LinkedIn’s recommendation page, your contacts can easily click the link that LinkedIn provides, making it easy for them to give you a recommendation.

Here’s how to request a recommendation from within LinkedIn:

1. In the LinkedIn search bar, type the name of the person you want to recommend and click the search button.

   A list of profiles matching the name appears.

2. Open the profile of the person you want to recommend by clicking the search result.
3. Click the More Options icon (three dots) located in the intro section.

4. Select Request a Recommendation.

   A dialog box appears, asking, “How do you know [this person]?” as shown in Figure 12-11.

5. Choose your relationship to the person.

   You have numerous options. Read through the list carefully and choose the relationship that most closely echoes yours. Unfortunately, there is no “other” option, so you must determine the best fit. Luckily, the other person has a chance to make changes, so if he or she doesn’t feel you used the proper relationship option, he or she can change it for you.

6. Choose your position at the time from the drop-down list.

   The drop-down list contains a listing of your experiences as listed on your LinkedIn profile.

7. Click the Next button.

8. Provide a personalized message to send with your recommendation request.

   LinkedIn prepopulates the Subject field with the title, “Can you recommend me?”

   LinkedIn also provides a simple, pre-written message: “Hi, can you write me a recommendation?” As I have stated, it is best to add the recommendation for the person or at the very least, guidelines to what you want covered in the recommendation.

9. Click the Send button when you are ready to send your request.

Your request for a recommendation is sent as a LinkedIn message. Depending on your LinkedIn settings, you may also receive a notification alert via email.

Ditching the default request text

When requesting a recommendation from a connection, LinkedIn provides a pre-written request for you to send. Rather than use LinkedIn’s default text, personalize the message instead. Try something like this:

• Dear Fran,
• It’s been a pleasure working with you and accomplishing so much together. It would be an honor to include a recommendation from you on my LinkedIn profile. I know how busy you are so I took the liberty of writing the recommendation for you. Please feel free to make any edits, and if you would prefer to write your own recommendation, please do so. Thank you in advance and I hope we can do lunch together soon.
• <insert pre-written recommendation>
• —Ollie

Once the recommendation request is sent, rather than wait for the other person to respond, I highly suggest reaching out to the person directly to let them know that you requested a recommendation. Give them a call and walk them through the steps of providing the recommendation. Let them know how appreciative you are of the help they are providing.

Accepting a recommendation

One of the perks of writing the recommendation for the other person is how quick the recommendation is usually accepted and posted. My clients who accepted this advice have reported back that most people, when provided with a pre-written recommendation, post it almost immediately. You’ll know when the person responds because LinkedIn sends an email notification. In addition to the email, you also get a LinkedIn message from the person giving the recommendation. This message contains a preview of the recommendation and a link to manage your recommendations. Here’s how to accept it:

1. Go to your messaging screen by clicking the Messaging icon on LinkedIn’s main navigation bar.

   In your list of messages on the left is the recommendation the person wrote for you along with a link to review it.

2. Click the Review Recommendation link.

   A dialog box that shows a preview of the recommendation appears.

3. Hover your mouse pointer over the recommendation preview and choose to either Dismiss or Add to Preview.
4. If you need to request a change, go back to the Message thread and message the person you need an edit.

5. Type the reason you are requesting a change.

   To make it as easy for the person as possible, you may want to copy his or her previous recommendation, make the change yourself, and paste the recommendation into the messaging section.

6. Click Send.

   It may seem insulting and wrong to request a replacement, but it’s an important thing to do. You don’t want to publish a recommendation filled with typos. That would defeat the purpose of the recommendation.

7. If the recommendation looks great, click Add to Profile.

Sometimes you receive recommendations you do not want on your LinkedIn profile. Although LinkedIn allows you to dismiss the recommendation, you may find that a recommendation you once received is no longer one you want to keep on your profile. All you need to do is scroll down to the Recommendations section of your LinkedIn profile and click the edit button. Once at the Manage Recommendations area, click the Show toggle off so that the recommendation does not show up on your profile. If the person recommending you has a poor reputation, the recommendation isn’t authentic or genuine, or the recommendation is no longer relevant to who you are today, it is best to simply remove it from view.

Reordering recommendations

Recommendations are listed in the order they were received on your LinkedIn profile. The two most current recommendations sit at the top visible to your reader, and a link to see more leads to the complete list of recommendations you have received. I’ve heard from people who stopped accepting recommendations because they want a specific recommendation to remain at the top of their profiles and they don’t want another lesser recommendation to take the top spot.

At one time, you could indeed reorder recommendations so a prized recommendation could remain in the top visible position. Unfortunately, with the latest interface change, you can no longer reorder recommendations.

Because it is no longer possible to reorder recommendations, please do not let that stop you from getting recommendations. Yes, a fantastic recommendation will be replaced by another on your profile, but all recommendations are visible when a person clicks “See more.” Besides, you never know when an even better recommendation will be received that blows that old prized recommendation out of the water!

Removing recommendations

Careers change, people change, and sometimes, a recommendation you accepted a long time ago may not be a recommendation you want on your profile today. Although it’s not possible to delete recommendations, you can prevent them from showing on your profile. Here’s how:

1. Open your LinkedIn profile.

2. Scroll down and click the pencil (edit) icon next to the Recommendations section.

   The Manage recommendations window appears.

3. Change the toggle to Hide for a recommendation you wish to remove, as shown in Figure 12-12.
4. Click Save.

Recommendations that have been hidden can be found in the Manage Recommendations section. Just click the Hidden recommendations link at the bottom of the page. If you hide a recommendation, don’t worry: The other person is not notified that the recommendation was removed.

Recommending others

Everyone knows it’s important to get recommendations, but it’s also just as important to give recommendations to other people. Think about it. You want to brand yourself as a leader and executive. Leaders and executives don’t just get recommendations, they give them!

Most people only provide recommendations when asked. Instead, give recommendations out of the goodness of your heart. Make it a part of your professional life. Once a month, look back and determine who did good by you. Who inspired and impressed you? Without anyone asking, send a glowing recommendation. You might be surprised by the good things that happen when all that karma comes back to you.

In addition to good karma, writing recommendations for others is a great way to promote yourself. Within the recommendation, introduce yourself and explain what you do. Not only does this give the recommendation context and credibility, but also it serves to get the word out about you.

Here’s an example of a self-promoting recommendation:

As a Financial Advisor, I work with many small business owners, helping them reach their financial planning goals. I frequently refer Jill Schwettie to my clients that need a small business advisor. The feedback my clients provide me regarding Jill is always very positive. Jill’s marketing advice has been instrumental in helping me expand my business. When you are ready to take your business to the next level, reach out to Jill.

People who read this recommendation may find themselves not only impressed with the person recommended, but also curious about the person providing the recommendation. Remember, the power of LinkedIn recommendations is the ability to click to learn more about the person providing the recommendation, and when you provide a well-written recommendation, a person may click on your profile to learn more about you, the recommender.

Here’s how to give a recommendation:

1. In the LinkedIn search bar, type the name of the person you want to recommend and click the search button.

   A list of profiles matching the name appears.

2. Open the profile of the person you want to recommend by clicking the search result.

3. Click the More Icon (three dots) located in the intro section and select Recommend, as shown in Figure 12-13.

   A dialog box appears that walks you through the recommendation process, as shown in Figure 12-14. The first thing you must do is state how you know the person and the person’s position at the time.

4. In the How do you know the person’s Relationship field, choose your relationship to the person.

   You have numerous options. Read through the list carefully and choose the relationship that most closely echoes yours.

5. In the Position at the Time field, click the drop-down list to choose the position of the person you are recommending.

   The drop-down list contains a listing of the person’s experiences as listed on his or her LinkedIn profile.

6. Click the Next button.

7. In the next dialog box that appears, write the recommendation for the person.

   Be careful not to include any notes to the person you don’t want others to see, and don’t make any typos!

8. Click the Send button when you are ready to send your recommendation.

   LinkedIn displays a banner at the bottom of the page that lets you know the recommendation was sent successfully.

Some experts out there may tell you that you can have too many recommendations on your LinkedIn profile. I subscribe to the old adage that you can never be too thin, too rich, or have too many recommendations on your profile. As long as the recommendations are genuine, authentic, come from people within your network, and align you with your career future, you truly can’t have too many.

I have over 100 recommendations on my profile. I regularly go through and cull the weaker recommendations. I also make sure that the person who is recommending me is a person who is respectable and professional. Otherwise, I remove the recommendation. The ultimate advice I can give you is to accept and show genuine recommendations from good people and never be afraid to remove a recommendation.

In the next chapter, I show you how to truly trick out your profile by following groups, companies, and influencers. I also show you how to blog directly on your LinkedIn profile. Let’s go!