It must be the thing to do, because almost every day some random contact in my LinkedIn directory endorses me for some skill that I may or may not be known to have or be good at doing. I assume some sort of reciprocation is expected, but I usually just ignore these. Is this rude or insensitive? For one thing, I have no idea if most of these people are really good at lion-taming or whatever random skill for which I’ve been endorsed. Secondly, I may be good at tightrope-walking but I don’t care to have this known publicly. I didn’t ask for the frickin’ endorsement. And finally, I’ve never worked with most of these people. How do I really know that you are good at basket-weaving?
I ignore them, unless someone endorses me for a skill I don’t have. Then I delete the lion taming (or whatever) from my profile. Yes, people can endose you on LinkedIn for a skill you did not list yourself. If someone I know from work endorses me, sometimes I’ll endorse them for a skill on their list that I know they have. Usually I don’t bother.
The click-to-endorse thing in LinkedIn has become its answer to Facebook’s “Like” button, but less useful. LinkedIn is pushing the “social network” side, IMO in a way that weakens the business and recruiting/job hunting sides. What good are the skill lists if anyone can put any BS there, and a bunch of connections will endorse any random thing. I think I should add “Warp Drive Engineer” to my skills list, just to see what happens.
There must have been some drive on LinkedIn, since I’ve been getting a lot lately. I ignore them - especially from stalkers. A LinkedIn endorsement gives me no benefit at all, and I figure that some people have too much time on their hands.
When I retire I’ll endorse some people also if I get very very bored. And finished reading all my sf books. Al 1,000 of them.
I was embarrassed the other way: I endorsed someone for skills I know he has…and he said that I wasn’t in his profession, and thus my endorsement was improper. Apparently, only plumbers (example) can endorse plumbers; if a carpenter endorses a plumber, it’s a bad thing.
Okay… It’s even a valid rule… But how the hell could I have known? I just knew he was a good plumber, and didn’t mind saying so.
Since then, I’ve been much more stingy in endorsing others.
It started (IIRC) with being able to list your skills on your profile, and then someone realized that anyone can list “diamond cutting” as a skill, but if no one else backs you up on saying you’re a good diamond cutter, so what? Thus was born the endorsement.
Whenever I log on, I get a window that lets me endorse my connections’ claimed skills, four at a time, and I’ll go through it until I can no longer click any of the endorsements with integrity. “Ray knows auto repair? Beats me, he’s my dog-sitter. Jeff knows bowling? I know Jeff only as a guy who took a class of mine. Carol-Ann knows paranormal? How should I know, she’s my sister’s boss. Myka knows paranormal? I thought she was secret service. Looks like I’m done.”
It’s all a big joke. I’ve had headhunters endorse me for skills I don’t have.
Linkedin has killed any value Linkedin endorsements may have had. They nag you about your connections: “Does John Smith know JavaScript”? “Does Jane Doe know SharePoint”? When you click yes or no, they pop up another. You could do it all day. Everyone knows it’s worthless. I can’t imagine any serious employers putting any weight on Linkedin endorsements.
I have an account for the connections. The endorsement thing is just an annoyance.
A former co-worker of mine, in an effort to poke fun at the whole thing, listed “Bad Tennis Serve” on his list of skills, and encouraged people to endorse him for it. At this point, it’s in his top 5 skills (based on endorsements).
Me, too. They tried to grab all of my email addresses, constantly sent spam notices, repeatedly nagged me to use their site, and everyone that wanted to link to me I already knew. This, I don’t need.
Yet weeks after account deletion, I still get invitations to accept an invitation from a LinkedIn member. I doubt if those are personal invitations – they are probably robo-generated by stealing email lists from unsuspecting members.
LinkedIn had the gall to ask for my email address and my password. Who do they think they are kidding?
Today I received an email from Linkedin that one of my connections has endorsed me for “new skills and expertise.” This connection is more of an acquaintance and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know what I do for a living. Furthermore the only clickable button in the email is to “add to profile” with nary a hint of what it is I’m adding to my profile, or what I was endorsed for.
It all seems like desperate attempts by Linkedin to be relevant.