Have you heard of “Endorse Mondays”?
If you’re on Twitter and have participated in #FollowFridays, then you are already two steps ahead in LinkedIn’s newest promotional effort “Endorse Mondays.”
“Endorse Mondays” to encourage you to recommend your connections for their skills, and to have them return the favor and recommend your skills. This is in addition to the traditional “Recommendations” section.
Why does LinkedIn believe this will be important? Because this endorsement section is for recruiters! Recruiters will be able to study the skills you are endorsed for, and the quantity of people who endorse you for those skills. As the LinkedIn Blog says, “endorse your connections for their skills and help them show off their professional prowess.”
I don’t believe the usefulness of this feature has fully caught on quite yet. In fact, on Twitter, a new joke abounds from @wfaler: “Don’t annoy me, or I’ll endorse you on LinkedIn for PHP and Enterprise Java!”
Which brings me to a couple rules for Endorse Mondays!
Julie’s Rules for “Endorse Mondays” on LinkedIn
1. Do it on Monday Morning! J.T. O’Donnell on Careerealism says, “Every Monday, take 10 minutes out of your morning to pay-it-forward by endorsing 10 people in your LinkedIn network. Imagine how you would feel if in your inbox on a Monday (a.k.a the day of the week when even the most cheerful people struggle to get going), you found endorsements of your skill sets from your peers.” And with that I wholeheartedly agree.
Plus, Monday morning leaves all week for those you’ve endorsed to reciprocate for you, AND you have the rest of the week to use this as an excuse to continue to build that relationship! Networking made super easy!
2. ONLY spend 10 minutes or less on Endorse Mondays. Don’t waste time on this. Really. Many I’ve spoken to recently see this as annoying (see below) or a LinkedIn promotional gimmick. So don’t be weird with it, and don’t expect anything resembling instantaneous results. Frankly, maybe even spend five minutes a week is enough.
3. Are you using Twitter as part of your job search strategy? Try tweeting about it using the hash-tag #EndorseMondays. (Yes, I coined that!)
4. For goodness sakes, use your manners! The number one complaint I’ve heard and personally experienced is endorsing those you don’t even know, and the second is for endorsing the skills of another that you haven’t witnessed yourself! This defeats the purpose of what LinkedIn is attempting to accomplish, AND gets you labeled as a “spammer” within your network. And that is not the reputation you’re looking for! As @LarryEngel wrote, “It’s flattering when it’s a contemporary . . . however, it’s easy to tell when an unknown is “fishing” for return endorsements.”
Please let me know about your own experiences with #EndorseMondays, and feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/juliemendez!