LinkedIn recommendations- Do they replace references?

[LondonManc]

Just got this from a pimp I don't know from Adam

"Hey, What skills do you want to be endorsed for? I’m going around endorsing people for what skills they want highlighted. It helps you with the job search, believe it or not, as HR reps look for these skill sets on LinkedIn. So figure it makes sense for everyone to help each other.
If you get a sec, could you in turn endorse my profile for ONLY these 5 skills: - Recruiting - Java - Customer Service - Technical Recruiting - Software Development
Trying to boost these babies to the top. Let me know what you need to be endorsed for."

Jesus wept...

Case closed. It's the amateur equivalent of facebook likes.

[Agent]

Endorsements are very different to recommendation though.

Totally agree endorsements are useless, I tend to endorse my competitors with all of the dog related skills - dog walking, dog training, dog feeding, dog aggression, Dog Grooming. I'd say about 80% go straight ahead and add them to their profile. Guess it's nice to be endorsed or anything rather than nothing..

[Eirikur]

Recommendations on LI are useless. Everyone can make a couple of fake accounts and recommend themselves.

[Agent]

Recommendations on LI are useless. Everyone can make a couple of fake accounts and recommend themselves.

Having a recommendation from a fake account is very easy to spot, I think everyone agrees that the recommendation has to be from a credible source.

[ContractorHardman]

Same here but it's a bloody great tool to spot chances and liars. The number of times I've seen a CV in the last few years that are written to the role spec but LinkedIn has shown it's a complete bag of lies is staggering.

Spot on! I was hiring down in London and I use to pull up the CV and the LinkedIn profile side by side. I use to spot so many mistakes and gaps. The Permie Manager seen this as a stroke of genius whilst I seen it as common sense. It was always a fun question... so you said here on your CV that "xxxxxx" but on your LinkedIn it says "xxxxxxx", can you explain why? It was always fun to see the reaction

[kaiser78]

Spot on! I was hiring down in London and I use to pull up the CV and the LinkedIn profile side by side. I use to spot so many mistakes and gaps. The Permie Manager seen this as a stroke of genius whilst I seen it as common sense. It was always a fun question... so you said here on your CV that "xxxxxx" but on your LinkedIn it says "xxxxxxx", can you explain why? It was always fun to see the reaction

That's why I don't put much detail in my Linkedin profile other than the roles undertaken and when, not that I have anything to be inconsistent about I should add. I mainly don't want my career history details to be so freely available.

Needless to say my multiple recommendations are included, although not so fussed about endorsements...

[Eirikur]

Having a recommendation from a fake account is very easy to spot, I think everyone agrees that the recommendation has to be from a credible source.

No it's not, years a go I had a fake account with over 200 connections. As a test I created an account as CTO of a fake company and used my gmail's address book to invite contacts which contains hundreds of agents. Almost without exception they all accepted and my account looked credible.

[DieScum]

They don't replace references but they are a nice addition.

They are just as reliable as references though - ie not at all.

It's sometimes amazing to have a browse through linkedin profiles and see some of the recommendations. People who were just terrible getting glowing recommendations for skills that they just weren't very good at.

[Snarf]

I'd imagine that "Recommendations" on linked in carry more weight than "endorsements" but I cant see them taking over from a proper reference.

With regards to endorsements I listed one of my skills as "Goat Herding" to see if anyone would notice... Ive been endorsed for it a few times now - this suggests the endorsements for my legitimate skills are equally tulip.

[LondonManc]

Proper references are a thing of the past. I'd imagine that is at least partly down to the agency "two references" trick meaning that hiring managers were getting bombarded with calls and partly them triggering hostility to the leaver or vice versa - glowing references for those they were happy to get rid of and "gosh, no, he's shocking" for those that they want to keep.