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Asking for a LinkedIn Recommendation to a colleague in a professional way

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Mid-Level Software Engineer at Taro Community4 months ago

Hi how can I ask a colleague for positive review on LinkedIn. My colleagues have worked with me and know what I can do they often say positive things about me.

Yeah not sure how to ask for LinkedIn recommendation. The thing is it would be really helpful to me. In interviews I don't have 10 years of experience just 2 years. But my colleagues know that I learn faster than usual and what I did in 1 year was really a lot compared to average. But someone working at another company interviewing me they don't know. LinkedIn Recommendations from my colleagues can really help me.

But I am worried about asking them for positive review on LinkedIn they might think that I want to leave the current company. Actually sometimes they kind off subtly tell me to leave the company, well some of them.

My mentor at work tells me if I want higher salary it's best to look for different job than stay at 1 job. This will get higher salary faster and I shouldn't tell the manager he told me this. I want to ask my mentor for a recommendation for linkedin.

Also after I ask my mentor this he/ the team might start treating me differently calculating for me likely/potentially leaving the company more so than staying. Giving me less scope.

So how to approach this in a professional way.
Hey, can you give me a LinkedIn recommendation?
Why? So people that haven't worked with me before also know what I'm worth.

Why? you intend to leave this company?
Uh....

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Discussion

(3 comments)
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    Thoughtful Tarodactyl
    Taro Community
    4 months ago

    I apologize this does not answer the question but

    1. I'm not too sure if LinkedIn recommendations help that much. I honestly never scroll down far enough to see/read the recommendations most of the time + most people make up their mind in probs 3-5 seconds seeing your profile

    2. Obviously if you're applying online its likely they wont look at your LinkedIn

    3. My personal view is that all LinkedIn recommendations sound the same "I worked with candidate X, they're hard working and a strong candidate".

    In my opinion I wouldn't worry too much about recommendations. If you're landing solid impact at your company it'll be self explanatory that you're a strong candidate

  • 2
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    Tech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
    4 months ago

    I'd recommend you ask for a LinkedIn recommendation once you have left the company. Better to ask former colleagues for a recommendation (or at least someone on a past team you worked with).

    I also agree with Thoughtful Tarodactyl that the recommendations have dubious value. I think it proves that you're not a bot, but most recommendations can be easily socially engineered. I talk about this here: Asking for a LinkedIn Recommendation

  • 1
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    Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
    4 months ago

    I don't think LinkedIn recommendations add much value. That being said, if your mentor said that it's better to switch jobs to maximize pay (which is true for the most part), they probably won't be surprised if you politely ask for a recommendation (you should offer to write them one too of course).

    If you're starting up a job search, I hope this helps: [Course] Ace Your Tech Interview And Get A Job As A Software Engineer

LinkedIn is an employment-oriented online service, and since 2017, a subsidiary of Microsoft. It's primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job seekers to post their CVs and employers to post jobs. LinkedIn has 800M+ registered members from over 200 countries.
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