Endorsements or Smoke and Mirrors • Radcliff Design

In the real world I’m not sure LinkedIn skills and endorsements really matter unless you have the actual degree and/or years of experience behind you. Just copying some cool and trendy vocabulary that you think “might” match your talents, can be costly to you in the end. Really think about those skills – could you get a job in the field that you are listing? Or is what you have listed all smoke and mirrors?

Is what you have listed all smoke and mirrors?

Like everyone else I have learned that friends are great about endorsing you for things like Microsoft Excel and Customer Service. The reason is because they can’t really identify with every skill you might have listed.

Where have they seen you do certain skills?
Do you write about your skills?
Have you posted about your skills?
It is frustrating when your top skills don’t even have one endorsement. If you don’t talk about them, how will anyone know about them?
What are your real skills?
Have you taken a personal inventory on what it is that you do well?

The reality check is that someone 300 miles away has no idea what you have really done.

So how do we make our Skills and Endorsement section more believable? The experts tell us that the summary section is one way. If you have a job listed in the Skills and Endorsement section talk about it in the summary section also. Over and over again, talk about that skill. How do you use that skill?

“It is frustrating when your top skills don’t even have an endorsement”

Another way to tell others about your skills is to post actual articles that you have written that speak about the skill you are trying to sell to the rest of the world. You should be able to write about what it is you do. Just listing a bunch of skills and not quantifying how you got those skills is not helpful to potential employers. You might be called on the carpet to discuss those skills someday with your current employer as well.

It is interesting what others will pick up on from your list of skills. I looked over my own list of skills and I now have endorsements for skills that I didn’t add. People who know me added them for me. I appreciate the endorsements, and I’m thankful for them, but truthfully I would have never thought to have added them on my own.

The real issue is to get others who don’t know us to believe in the skills we have listed. I understand that it is great to see a uniform and tidy list, but is it really who we are? Probably not. I decided to rearrange my list to better reflect my skills.

You might be called on the carpet to discuss those skills someday with your current employer.

After doing a self-inventory, I feel much more confident in my skills list. Yes there are holes as far as endorsements are concerned, but my list is more believable.

When I look at my modified list It’s no longer all tidy and neat anymore, but neither is real life. Skills are not a popularity contest. It’s who you are and what you do.

Can you take those skills with you to a job interview?
You either have the skills or you don’t.
I will be honest, It was hard for me to move my skills around, because I like uniformity, and maybe ego was also holding me back.
“Reality” is what gets you the job.

….all the rest, I’ve done those skills, probably a whole lot more – some better than others. The main thing I have learned in listing some of my skills, is that I need to know my own limitations. I need to hold onto those passions that made me choose the profession I did. I don’t regret my decisions. I’m not limited by what is posted here either, and you shouldn’t be either. Just make sure your list reflects those skills that are valuable to you.