LinkedIn recommendations can influence decision-makers to take positive action when they visit your profile.
They work similarly to mobile app reviews, customer testimonials, or old-school recommendation letters.
But sadly, many LinkedIn users underestimate this feature, are too busy optimizing the rest of their profiles or have difficulty writing recommendations for others.
In this article, you’ll discover:
- ➡️ What a LinkedIn recommendation is
- ➡️ Why it’s so essential
- ➡️ Powerful LinkedIn recommendation examples and templates
- ➡️ Tips for crafting effective LinkedIn recommendations
This article is about writing LinkedIn recommendations. If you rather receive them, here’s how you can request LinkedIn recommendations.
What Is a LinkedIn Recommendation?
A LinkedIn recommendation is a written testimonial LinkedIn members can give each other to recognize their professional skills, experiences, qualifications, and accomplishments.
These recommendations are visible on a LinkedIn user’s profile and serve as social proof. A LinkedIn recommendation on your profile helps prove that you
- ➡️ Are whom you say you are
- ➡️ Can do what you say you can do
- ➡️ Are good at what you do
LinkedIn recommendations are typically written by a colleague, supervisor, client, or anyone who has firsthand knowledge of the user’s work.
Why You Should Write a LinkedIn Recommendation ✍️
Benefit 1: Giving recommendations shows others that you are a giver, not a taker.
Hiring managers or company decision makes will see that you appreciate great talent and interpret that you can work well in a team. They’ll also see that you know enough to positively evaluate people’s skills, experiences, and qualifications.
➡️
By recommending others, you’re indirectly promoting yourself on LinkedIn.
Benefit 2: Recommending others on LinkedIn helps expand your LinkedIn network and build your personal brand.
For example, when Mr. A’s connections see your recommendation on his profile, they’ll most likely check out your profile and connect with you. Users that are not connected to him will also see your recommendation. And that means more visibility for your brand.
Benefit 3: People love to return favors whenever they can. So, you’re more likely to receive recommendations from people when you give them recommendations.
See how Rex gave Penni a recommendation, and two weeks later, Penni returned the favor.
Benefit 4: Giving recommendations on LinkedIn boosts your credibility and trustworthiness. Potential customers or employers notice that you’re a real person they’re more likely to have a good experience with since they see how you appreciate others.
Benefit 5: It helps other LinkedIn users make better decisions.
If you worked with an excellent colleague, give them a LinkedIn recommendation. This will help recruiters to see their good qualities and boost their chances of landing a role if they’re looking for a job in the future.
Have you used a service that exceeds expectations? Give the business owner or freelancer a recommendation on LinkedIn. This way, when other users are looking for the same service, they can quickly make the right decision.
Benefit 6: It brings goodwill. When you recommend someone on LinkedIn, it puts you in their mind as they’ll get a notification from LinkedIn. Give a recommendation to that client you last worked with one year ago. They might remember they have something similar you can work on and either bring a new project or recommend other clients to you.
Now, let’s see how LinkedIn recommendations should look.
LinkedIn Recommendation for Business Owners
Main task:
Highlighting how their products or service have affected you or your experiences working with them.
Examples for Business Owners
Template for Business Owners
Template 1: Peter is an incredible businessman with a remarkable ability to connect with his employees. He is always there to help them grow and develop as professionals.
When I joined ABC Company in 2018, Peter was instrumental in helping me hone my skills and become a better data analyst. He is an amazing leader who truly wants to see his employees succeed in everything they do.
Peter is the CEO you’ll be willing to work hard for because no effort goes unappreciated. More CEOs should strive to be like him.
Template 2: Don’t pass up any opportunity to work with Anita. She is a visionary and a great teacher.
When unemployment was almost pandemic in 2017, she gathered the top five recruiting experts in California to advise job seekers free of charge on her website, abc.com.
This selfless gesture caught my attention, and I wanted to meet the woman behind abc.com. Fortunately, I was invited to join the abc.com team a year later.
I admire Anita’s dedication to providing helpful information for job seekers. She’s gifted in gathering super-valuable resources in a way that jobseekers can easily access.
I can’t wait to see the next big thing she’ll do.
LinkedIn Recommendation for Client
Main task:
Showcasing the client’s qualities that made your work worthwhile. How long have you worked with them? How did you meet them? Talk about what you did for them.
Examples for Client
Template for Client
Template 1: Victor is the perfect example of an ideal client—he knows what he wants, communicates clearly and promptly, and gives adequate feedback.
I helped him develop the 2021 Q3 content strategy for his crypto brand, ABC Brand. He had well-defined goals for his brand, which made my work much easier.
I’ve been developing his content strategy since, and he’s been a joy to work with. I think he’s more than a client; he’s a partner. He trusts my expertise and is ready to implement new ideas every time.
Template 2: Mary is one of the reasons I enjoy building websites. She appreciates true expertise and talent when she sees one.
Our first meeting was in 2020 when she needed an overhaul of her ABC.com website. She values quality over speed and is ready to give you enough time to deliver the best results.
She has recommended many similar clients to me, which I’m most grateful for.
I see us working together for decades to come. Mary is a client worth keeping.
LinkedIn Recommendation for Mentors
Main task:
Letting your readers know how much impact they made in your life within a particular timeframe. Summarize the unique qualities that helped them make such an impact.
Examples for Mentor
Template for Mentor
Template 1: Jack has been my mentor and coach since my college years on the Oakland Rivers baseball team. He lives by what he preaches and leads by example.
I remember my first experience as a sales manager when my team was underperforming. I ran to him for help as he was the only one I knew with the right qualities to get me out of trouble.
He set up a four-month plan for me, and I was able to discover and fix the personality traits that were affecting our performance as a team. That year, we became one of the highest-performing sales teams.
If you need a life coach, Jack is the man.
Template 2: Mark helped me triple my freelance earnings in ten months.
Before I met Mark, I was stuck at the $2K monthly cap in my earnings. I met him at the Freelance to Win conference in May 2021 and was blown away by his speech.
The next day, I joined his inner circle, which has been my best decision this year.
He taught me his LIFT method for landing top-paying clients outside freelance platforms using LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. I’m fully booked for the rest of the year as I have more work than I can handle.
Mark gets my full recommendation for any freelancer looking to scale his earnings.
LinkedIn Recommendation for Manager or Supervisor
Main task:
Showing how they’ve helped you improve at work and how you feel working under them. Talk about how they motivate the team or boost team productivity.
Examples for Business Managers or Supervisor
Template for Business Manager or Supervisor
Template 1: Fred makes sure you know what to do, how to do it, and when to do it.
He has been my supervisor for almost five years. I admire how he relates with the rest of the team in a friendly and accommodating manner.
In the last three years, he has reduced our meetings by almost 47% while maintaining optimal productivity. He is the kind of supervisor that has your back, capitalizing on your strengths and helping you work on your weaknesses. We call him the people’s supervisor.
He introduced me to many high-level productivity tools that have made my work as a UI/UX designer one of the best in the industry.
Fred is the supervisor you need in a fast-changing industry.
Template 2: I owe most of my success at ABC Company to Ivy.
As a copyeditor, I worked with Ivy for eight years at ABC Company, and she helped me become one of the best copyeditors in the airbrush makeup industry today.
She has excellent attention to detail and knows how to prevent errors before they occur. She devoted her time to study her team members. This helped her identify our most vital qualities to assign the right tasks to the right people.
Ivy is always optimistic and lifts our spirits when we face difficulties during a project. When we’re stuck, she comes up with a new idea.
She is a tremendous asset to any content team.
LinkedIn Recommendation for Coworkers
Main task:
Letting the reader know their strongest qualities, skills, and work achievements. What personal trait makes them stand out positively? Showcase how they helped you achieve project goals.
Examples for Coworkers
Template for Coworkers
Template 1: I have worked with George on many DeFi projects, and his pitch decks have landed us many huge deals and investments from VCs all over Europe and Asia.
He knows his numbers and how to tell a captivating story with them.
George has a knack for spotting tiny details and making the most out of them. He sees what most people would naturally miss or ignore. He’s the heart of our team. We always trust his recommendations because, over the years, they have proved vital to our success in this industry.
You need George on your team if you want massive funding for your next DeFi project.
Template 2: I met Susan during my time at ABC Company. It was my first job as a data analyst.
She helped me learn the work processes at ABC Company, and in no time, I was just as good as the rest of the team. I learned many visualization techniques from her as she always shared her discoveries with the rest of the team.
I always look forward to her weekly podcast on data visualization techniques as it has proved an invaluable resource even as we’re no longer working together.
Every team should have a Susan.
Hacks for Writing a Killer LinkedIn Recommendation
Only give recommendations to people you have a clear and comprehensive knowledge of
- ➡️ The work they have done for/with you
- ➡️ Their skills, qualifications, and experience.
You want to ensure that you accurately reflect who they are or what they do.
These tips will help you write a strong LinkedIn recommendation that opens doors for your recipients.
Grab your readers’ attention in your first line: Start with an opening statement that will make any reader stop and look. You want them to read the rest of your recommendation, so hook them with your first sentence. Look at these intros.
- ➡️ I have worked with George on many DeFi projects, and his pitch decks have landed us huge deals and investments from VCs all over Europe and Asia.
- ➡️ I owe most of my success at ABC Company to Ivy.
- ➡️ Victor is an ideal client—he knows what he wants, communicates clearly and promptly, and gives adequate feedback.
Personalize the recommendation: A personalized recommendation will be more meaningful and impactful than a generic one. Tailor the recommendation to the person you are recommending and include details that are relevant to their experience and skills.
Recruiters love to know what it’s like to work with the user. Show that in the recommendation. Highlight the personality traits that make them outstanding.
Use keywords: LinkedIn is a search-driven platform, so using relevant keywords in your recommendation can help the recipient to be found more easily.
Ask the recipient what keywords they’ll want to rank for. Then, as much as possible, try to infuse them in your recommendation naturally.
Format your text properly: Use paragraphs, short sentences, and bullet points to make your recommendation easy to read. There’s no point in writing a recommendation that nobody reads because it’s filled with long slabs of text that hurt the eyes.
Notice the differences between these two recommendations. See how the one below is much easier to read because it was broken down into short paragraphs.
Highlight your relationship: Most times, it’s not about the recommendation but who gives it.
Your readers want to know what authority you have to recommend a user in a particular context. A summary of your relationship with who you’re recommending
- ➡️ Gives the recommendation more credibility
- ➡️ Helps the reader understand why you are fit to give such a recommendation
Be specific: Highlight specific examples of the person’s skills and abilities instead of making general statements.
For example, instead of saying, “Mark knows how to sell cars,” say, “Mark increased our car sales from 20 cars a month to 154 cars monthly”.
End by reaffirming your recommendation
: End your recommendation with a strong statement that influences a decision-maker to make a favorable action regarding the user.
In a few words, let the reader know that the person you recommend is highly valuable to you and will also be of great value to them.
Wrapping up
LinkedIn recommendations are powerful networking tools.
After all, who doesn’t like to receive positive recommendations?
It’s a great way to show appreciation to someone and help them in their careers.
And who knows? They may want to return the favor someday and potentially change your life.