The skills and endorsements section of LinkedIn is often neglected but incredibly useful.

Once you have amassed a decent number of connections, they will be offered the opportunity to recommend you based on your skills in certain areas.

Why does this matter?

Social proof is a concept that we see everywhere in the modern day.

We see it in reviews, for products or locations. We see it in follower counts, businesses that possess brand pages with higher follower accounts appear psychologically to be more dependable and the situation is no different with your capabilities and the LinkedIn Skills and Endorsements section.

Recruiters will see this section and see, although often limited, social proof for the skills and attributes you say you have.

How do I get more recommendations?

Ask close friends to recommend you for skills that they genuinely feel you possess. If you have just finished working on a group project that you feel you played a strong leadership role within, then ask the group to recommend you for your skills in that area on LinkedIn.

Soon you will have amassed some significant recommendations that can only boost your appeal to recruiters that visit your profile.

Recommend others! If you endorse someone for a specific skill, without needing to ask, they will often return the favour with a skill or area they believe you to be strong within. Spread the love!

However, don't beg all of your connections for recommendations, it gets tiresome very quickly.

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