What is the story with LinkedIn endorsements?

Dear Monica,

I noticed that you endorsed me on LinkedIn for some of the skills I list in my profile.  What is the point in endorsing others and receiving endorsements?  I still don’t get this LinkedIn thing at all.

Signed,

Still Confused

Dear Still Confused,

I’m a huge fan of LinkedIn and have been for many years.  When a super busy individual or team decides they want to find a very specific person to help them with a very specific project, they typically use LinkedIn to find them.  It’s the online hangout for many of the world’s biggest movers, shakers, decision makers and they are all super busy & focused.  Endorsements on your profile show the skills that you focus on the most in your career and your daily life.  About once each week I do press the endorse button for my friends on LinkedIn because I know it can help their profiles to be found by those that are searching for those skills.  In return, many of my LinkedIn connections also remember to endorse me for the skills that are listed on my profile. 

If you find that you are not attracting helpful connections on LinkedIn, I suggest you endorse your connections and even ask your connections to endorse you for the skills that are the most valuable in your own career.  I also suggest you clean out your connections of anyone that is not a professional connection or not supportive of your career goals.

If you have any questions about Internet technologies, please do send them to [email protected] and I’ll do my best to answer you in future stories.