LinkedIn and the "serial endorsers"

Endorse, of course! Well, not really...

LinkedIn is my favorite social networking website. It is useful, because it is focused and because it offers great tools to stay updated about pretty much any industry. But today, I want to talk about a practice that annoys me profoundly in this virtual environment. It is widespread, it is dangerous, and it is called "serial endorsing."

"Serial endorsers" are those who, as soon as they are linked with you, they automatically endorse you for absolutely everything that is on your list of skills. Everything. Wow, that should be amazing, right? Why would that be a problem, César? It is a problem because it is neutralizing one of the most useful tools on LinkedIn. To understand that, let's make a connection with real life.

Everyday, you are bombarded by advertising pieces, trying to convince you to buy something. M&M's? Bread? Even an iPhone? Advertising can convince you to buy these products, for sure. But some "products", like human resources, are bought after a careful process that includes resumés, interviews and, sometimes, group dynamics. Word-of-mouth can be decisive in every stage, it can take people further in a selection process.

LinkedIn came up with the endorsement tool (under the "Skills and Expertise" tab) to offer an alternative to writing a recommendation. It can take some time to write a thoughtful recommendation and, let's face it, sometimes we don't have much to say about someone, but we’ve seen what they do, we like it, and we want to give them a help. So, let's endorse, of course. But there is a right way to use endorsements on Linked In.

I am lucky to have been endorsed by a considerable number of people, but some of them endorsed me for skills that I know that they have never experienced themselves before. How do you endorse something you never experienced yourself? The result is that, today, companies are not paying attention to the "Skills and Expertise" area anymore. It became this hole in your profile that means absolutely nothing. The good thing is that you can now choose which endorsements you want to show or not. Next time you edit your profile, consider clicking on "Manage Endorsements" and do some sanitizing. It's not offensive to whoever endorsed you. They made it with good intention. But remember that your profile on LinkedIn is supposed to show your real connections. I did that on my profile. What you see is what you get.

* Not convinced about endorsement etiquette yet? Hear it from Stacy Zapar, known as the most connected woman in LinkedIn.