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LinkedIn Endorsements: How do they work?

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In today’s economy, plenty of perspective employees will look for any advantage to land that job. They may be elated to find an endorsement in their LinkedIn account.

What is an Endorsement?

When you fill out a LinkedIn account you also fill out any relevant skills.  An endorsement is when someone else gives you a “thumbs up” regarding any of these skills.  It’s essentially a shorter version of a LinkedIn recommendation.

Employers can look at a profile and relevant skills.  Any endorsements will also be visible.  They can then go to the profile of the endorsers and see how they connect with the perspective employee.

How are they managed?

If you’re an employer, you should know, that of the up to fifty skills that LinkedIn allows, only ten skills are allowed to have endorsements.

If you’re looking for a job, you can go to Edit Profile option and manage your endorsements under the skills and expertise tab.  It’s best to keep endorsements from family members and people only tangentially connected to you to a minimum.

Does it work?

Endorsements are part of a quick overview.  It’s a good way for an employer to glance over the strengths of a perspective employee.  If the endorsements match the needed skills then perhaps a deeper look is needed.  And a chance is what most would-be employees want.

Three Red Flags When Hiring an IT Professional

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In this economy it’s always a tough job when looking to hire someone. It’s especially difficult when you’re hiring someone for an IT position where their work could affect productivity in the office. So here are a few red flags to watch out for during the interview process.

1. Lots of adjectives on the candidate’s resume. If the candidate puts diligent under strengths, then press to find out why it’s on there. Ask, for example, how they were more hard working than their co-workers at their last position. If they can’t cite a specific incident, then those adjectives may just be for show.

2. When hiring an IT professional it might behoove you to ask: What is the most crucial aspect of this position? This will give you a better understanding of the inner workings of their mind. You can infer if they are customer minded with an answer like, “assuring that tickets are resolved in a satisfactory manner” or technically minded, “Minimizing server down time.” Using their responses, you can gauge if their mind set is right for the position.

3. If you’re a small business, you should be on the lookout for: “My last company doesn’t have any opportunities for growth.” This can often translate to: I want more money. You should probably ask why and what type of growth do they hope to achieve when working for your company.

And as always when it comes to the hiring process, you should listen to the guides, but in the end follow your instincts.