One of LinkedIn’s most vital, yet neglected, goals is to obtain as many recommendations from past supervisors, bosses, peers, and co-workers as possible to enrich your profile. You can never have enough! If you are undergoing interviews for job consideration, future employers can link to the recommenders and find out more about you on the social media platform. They can also contact your referrals to get the ‘skinny’ on your past performance.  

But what if you are not actively looking for a job and are more of a passive careerist? What is the point of getting involved in the recommendation process? Exposure and branding. Did you catch in the previous paragraph that I noted future employers can link to the recommender and engage? What do they see when they click on the link to your name in another person’s recommendation? Your profile. This subtle branding gives you more exposure and eyeballs on your LinkedIn profile and reputation, enabling you to build your brand.

Your LinkedIn profile is a rich marketing vehicle for your skills and capabilities. Once you have reached 100% profile completeness, recruiters and headhunters may see your referrals to others and link through to your profile. If you provide your contact information in the summary section, recruiters can easily pick up a phone or send an email. Once folks link into your profile – you may be a ‘better candidate’ for the position they are trying to fill. What a great way to passively shop for a new job, right?

Who do you want to provide recommendations for? Look for the shakers and movers in the industry with which you worked in the past or your current position. Look for your LinkedIn connections with many folks connecting to them. Search out profile owners who have a considerable following. Look at the company profiles for businesses you used to work for employees on the profile for which you can provide recommendations. 

On some company pages, you may see profile owners in a listing for ‘most recommended.’ Clicking on that profile might take you to the profile where you can send a connection invitation to a high-powered industry expert. Once they accept your invitation to connect, more people will look at your profile because they want to connect to that mover and shaker, too!

Remember that exposure – in a good way – is vital to branding yourself and increasing your public relations to a new and potential strategic alliance with future employers. Get your name in front of past co-workers – they may remember what a great job you did and realize you are still a great job candidate. Many companies are realizing that alumni job candidates are even more valuable as rehires than brand-new employees who come to the job as strangers. Recognizing your name as a referral may prompt fond memories of your past performance…and result in an interview phone call! 

Dawn Boyer, Ph.D., owner of D. Boyer Consulting – provides resume writing, editing, publishing, and print-on-demand consulting. Reach her at Dawn.Boyer@me.com or visit her website at www.dboyerconsulting.com.