Why I Don't Believe LinkedIn Recommendations

Agreed. 100%

Definitely with you on this one. It's why I've never written a blanket letter of recommendation. I don't pay any attention to them so why waste time writing one? When appropriate, I have no problem being listed as a reference. Just don't ask me to write a recommendation.

Well, I'd agree to an extent but will risk being a contrarian. Many are cheesy, but there is still value to be gleaned from the recommendation. Even with references a candidate gives to an HR person, those references are selected intentionally because they are going to be favorable. No person in their right mind recommending someone is going to recommend someone on LinkedIn or to HR unless they are reasonably sure that person won't damage their own credibility.

So, a LinkedIn recommendation might be favorable, but it is at least a starting point of reference to find out a bit more about a person. If the point of LinkedIn is to professionally network and make business connections, I might be more concerned dealing with someone who can't get somebody to write something positive about them.

Ok, I'm going to play devil's advocate here. :) Do I think LinkedIn recommendations are biased? Yes, of course. Do I think they can still provide value? Definitely. Bill - I know what you mean about those recommendations that are over-inflated. In fact, it has become a pet peeve of mine when people always use "expert," "guru" and the like to pair with someone who is a social media practitioner. However, where I think recommendations can provide value is if you provide a mixture of connections in life, i.e. business, personal, professional organization, civic organization, etc. Anyone can be involved in a club or organization, but it's rarer to find someone who makes a difference in those groups. I think in that way, recommendations can offer a little more insight into the whole person. Love this post though. Made me have to think this early in the morning and I like it!

I have noted that a number of people who are truly excellent
in what they do have zero recommendations on LinkedIn
while on the other hand a number of people who are average
at best have multiple very positive recommendations!!

Is it because the people who are really good at work are
confident about what they do and do not believe in asking
others for their recommendations?

Also, I agree with points Bruce mentioned about
recommendations being fake, biased and in some cases
following the pattern of "I will recommend you if you
recommend me."

Cal Evans,

Not having any recommendations should not be a red flag ..
after all not everyone believes in self-promotion or seeking
others approval of them. In fact most truly intellectual people
do not believe in wasting time in an activity such as collecting
recommendations.

Rather cases where a person has too many very positive
recommendations would raise a red flag for me.

- Steve

The core value of a recommendation, like everything else, can be plotted statistically to represent a spectrum between “good” and “bad”.

If one can't identify with precision WHY the “recommender” has made the recommendation, and they’re simply showing off the “recommendee” as a superstar, or heaven forbid, just a star; won’t it be easy to chuck it into the bucket of badly formed recommendations. I emphasize the word “formed” because whether the recommendation reflects the truth or not may not be relevant any more. The recommendation is just not going to get as much of a chance to achieve its originally intended objective. And when I say, "FIND OUT WHY", I don't simply mean read it and make a judgment call.

Of course, with the application of some intelligence and a modicum of effort one can eventually tell if the recommendation was gratuitous. Because most recommendations, intentionally or unintentionally, are written without thought to the various ways they might be perceived, and because coupled with that most readers of recommendations don't give the evaluation enough effort, they often end up being categorized in this latter (gratuitous) category. I guess this is likely the reason “LINKEDIN RECOMMENDATIONS” have acquired the dubious and now possibly maligned significance discussed here.

On the other hand, throw in 2-3 precise context rich details of WHY the “recommendee” delivered value added action result pairs, or demonstrated their constructive character/style via a concisely documented incident, and suddenly, the recommendation has enhanced value and credibility: It personalizes the recommendee, and, for that matter, gives weight to the “recommender”’s statements and opinions. Context boosts situational value and credibility. Yes, it’s difficult to write a recommendation so concise and precise that qualifies it into the “extraordinary and credible” bucket; and, it likely takes some penmanship too. And how many people possess that skill? It is rare. And just because they don’t, does that mean the recommendation is less “true”?

Of course one can manufacture stories and facts! Still, a recommender is less likely to exaggerate specific incident facts when they’re going to undergo the possible scrutiny of the public eye, their co-worker’s, their bosses, and others; it's so much easier to stretch the truth when you’re generalizing.

I consider a recommendation to be by its very nature a positive remark, hence the term “recommendation”. It is not meant to be an “evaluation”. Yet, somehow, there are now subjective guidelines/rules on who is, or is not, EXCELLENT vs AVERAGE based on how many recommendations they have on their LinkedIn profile. I have ZERO recommendations on my LinkedIn profile. Apparently, I’m statistically more likely to be “BETTER” (along some dimension(s)) than the person who has more recommendations. Hmmm?!?!

If a recommendation was indeed of the “good and credible” variety, would you prefer to have none or a few on your profile? Would you then want to share those with someone who was viewing your profile? I would guess most would respond with a resounding YES.

Certainly, if the person viewing my profile didn’t have the intuition or perseverance to give the recommendations a thorough evaluation, do I lend any substance to that person’s interpretation? Someone may want to argue that it is but “human nature to not invest all that time”, that is, the time necessary to make a reasonable assessment of the validity of the recommendation. My response to that: Let’s pack this entire article up and go home then. We are talking about professionals here, not just your common inexpert, or casual profile voyeur, aren’t we?

Writing about, learning how to interpret and then investigating a recommendation is critical to someone seeking to add innovation, value or deliver excellence in the role they are performing; usually HR, or directly as the hiring manager. Practiced enough, pondering the “how”, “why” and “what” of this or any topic can become second nature. And it is no different with recommendations, on LinkedIn or otherwise. They’re not merely words, they’re telling of the party who wrote them, the party they’re written about and the impact (or lack thereof) both had in their interaction. Is the recommender’s profile still anonymized? Do they know that? When you reach out to them, can they describe specifics with sufficient clarity and conciseness about the incidents that led to the recommendation? Just as well, I’d like to add that there are many factors, such as “memory retention and recall”, baseline of the recommender’s knowledge at the time such an impression occurred, etc… all of which in most instances, lend just as many reasons to write up a recommendation than to leave it for a verbal discussion with an evaluator who is requesting these details, possibly years later.

Perhaps it is time consuming to observe and excel at these practices. But if we’re not going to make the effort to understand how to wield and then use this tool, how can we claim to know enough to criticize it in the first place? Perhaps, profile voyeurs will always remain comfortable throwing stones from the comfort of their couches.