How to set up your LinkedIn profile for endorsement

Although it rolled out in the United States, India, Australia and New Zealand, over the past two months, we are only now getting to try out the new LinkedIn endorsement feature here in Europe.

Here’s what it looks like:

You can see how useful it will be in terms of building credibility.Your endorsements are a great visual way for others to instantly see your skills. On the flip side, it is easier for connections to compare your skills to your competitors, so you can see how important it is to gain more endorsements.

So how do you set up your LinkedIn profile to take full advantage of this new feature?

Add Your Skills

Now is a good time to complete your LinkedIn profile if you haven’t done so already. Just go to Edit Your Profile, scroll down to Skills and start adding your expertise.

Here’s a handy tip from Social Media Examiner on adding your skills

Make sure you add your skills in order of importance to you, as these will be the first ones listed on your profile and thus the easiest for your connections to see. As you get more endorsements for a particular skill, that skill will automatically rise to the top of the list, as your skills will then be listed by numerical order of endorsements.

Add popular skills to your profile

If you hover your mouse over a skill, a popup box with further information about that skill appears with a figure %, which refers to the popularity of that skill being added to other people’s profiles.

How do you endorse a connection?

• On the top of a connection’s profile, you’ll see recommended endorsements for them. You can suggest additional skills as well.
• You can also endorse them from the new Skills & Expertise section that now showcases these endorsements.

When someone endorses your skills, LinkedIn will send you an email to let you know and the endorsement will show in your LinkedIn newsfeed. This is a good opportunity to send a message to the endorser thanking them for their endorsement and perhaps suggesting a way you can be of service to each other.

We think the new endorsement feature is a positive way to strengthen connections and boost your credibility and profile on LinkedIn. What do you think?

About Marie

Marie Ennis-O’Connor BA, MIAPR, holds an Honours degree in History from University College Dublin. She is a graduate of the Irish Academy of Public Relations and has worked in a variety of PR roles over the past 12 years. Marie is editor of several award-winning blogs ranging from life sciences to health to business. She is a panel member of the newly established Bloggers International and is a regular contributor to Health Works Collective, an online community for thought leaders in international healthcare. She is a featured blogger on Webicina, an online service that provides curated medical social media resources in over 80 medical topics and over 17 languages, and has been awarded a top blogger accolade by Empowered Doctor.com and most inspiring writer by WegoHealth. Marie is also in demand as a trainer in social media marketing and travels the country teaching small business owners how to get online and maximise their online presence.