Finishing up our series on how to get noticed on LinkedIn, today you show the world what you’re worth from someone else’s perspective. You’ve got it covered from head to toe with your smart profile pic, your catchy headline, your snazzy multimedia, and your fancy writing. But all of that is just your side of the story.
If you really want to get noticed on LinkedIn, you have to let people know what other people think about you. I’m talking about getting recommendations from friends and colleagues. It’s just like a job interview – during the interview you talk about all the wonderful things you’ve done, but afterwards, recruiters and employers want to hear from the people you’ve worked with. They want to see if their word validates your word and proves that you’ve got what it takes to be the best candidate for the role.
So how do you go about getting those recommendations? Well, one way is to simply ask people to write recommendations for you. You can do this when you edit your profile. Just hover over the arrow located next to the “View profile as” button and select “Ask to be recommended”. From there, add the most influential people you want recommending you. Be selective as you only want to get the best responses. Choose people who are peers or senior to you who have good communication skills. Not everyone will write a recommendation, but if you get a 25% return, consider yourself lucky. That’s a good group of colleagues you already have in your network.
Asking people directly is a good start, but if you really want to draw recommendations, use a good, old-fashioned Jedi mind trick. Lean on your power of persuasion. You do this by playing on people’s compulsion to reciprocate. In other words, “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”. But in this case, you scratch first. Here’s why. When you write a recommendation for someone, they feel the need to reciprocate. I mean, it would look pretty bad if they didn’t, right? Now, it doesn’t always work, but it is certainly an effective technique. The other great thing about this technique is that it works very well with senior colleagues. And that’s what you really want here. You want your bosses to write glowing, praiseworthy reviews of your work. When you get that kind of recognition, you build a strong professional brand that recruiters and employers love to hire. So start searching your most senior business colleagues and write a glowing review of them. You’ll see they will show appreciation and likely return the favor with a glowing review of you. Well done!
Now, you’ve been such a good reader, I’m going to give you a bonus tip.
In your effort to build a solid network of connections, always be thinking one or two steps ahead. Remember, people are judged by the company they keep. You’ve got to set your sights higher all the time. You want to connect with people who will make your network look more impressive and more valuable. The single most effective way to get these people in your network is to write personal invitations. Don’t just click the Connect button from the grid of People You May Know. That just sends a generic message. Instead, click the person’s name and go directly to their page. From there, tap Connect, then tap Add a note. Now write a personal message relating a shared perspective or reason for connecting. This will show the recipient you care enough to craft a special message and you have something to offer them in return.
P.S. Be careful when trying to connect with someone senior to you or someone you don’t personally know from the mobile app. It’s even trickier to write a personal message in an invite. Here’s how! Go to the person’s full profile and then tap More, then Personalize invite. Finally, you can write a proper invitation to join your network.
Until next time, remember, if you want to build a powerful, high-value network, lean on your power of persuasion…Get Recommended!