Is there anything quite as worthless as a LinkedIn skill endorsement?
Today, I received an email alerting me to a recent endorsement. Fantastic! Except, I haven’t worked with this person in over 15 years.
Then there are the endorsements from friends and family who have no idea what the skill even is.
Other times, I’ve had connections endorse for a skill that, while I am proficient, would not have known I had (of course the VP of HR has seen my programming prowess!).
The idea is relatively simple. The goal of the endorsement is to make it easy for people to recognize you for your skills and expertise without having to write out a lengthy recommendation. What initially seemed like a good idea for a business networking site has really turned out to be a waste of time, annoying, called a popularity contest, and not a value add.
When people start gaming the system (you endorse me and I’ll endorse you) and it becomes more about inflating artificial numbers than the actual skills you’re highlighting in the first place, the tool becomes useless.
Let’s find other ways to show off our work and help us stand out… but this one isn’t it.
so true!