LinkedIn Endorsements, the often maligned crowdsourced Skills & Expertise within the professional social network, is now available within the LinkedIn mobile app. With today’s update, LinkedIn members can now view their top skill endorsements on their mobile profile, as well as accept and grant endorsements from and for other members.
The major criticism of such skill endorsements, of course, is that they’re unverified, and can often be completely inappropriate. LinkedIn members can endorse their connections for whatever skills they want.
However, every LinkedIn member must still accept and approve any received endorsements, so they can never publicly display a skill endorsement they don’t want. And when LinkedIn suggests that you endorse someone for a particular skill, it’s because that skill already appears on their public profile, or is related to their existing skills or profile information.
And many have overlooked the secret benefit of LinkedIn endorsements, which is that professionals with specific listed skills not only receive Social SEO benefits of the listing and social signals, but are also listed and aggregated within the Skills & Expertise area of LinkedIn.
So this update is welcomed, though with the caveat of hope that it will not be abused.
Using it is simple enough. When you open your LinkedIn app, you can open the left side menu, tap on your name to bring up your profile, and then scroll down to the new Skills & Expertise mobile section. You can view what you’ve been endorsed for and who has endorsed you.
If you tap on someone who has endorsed you, or visit their profile from elsewhere within the app, you can scroll down to their Skills & Expertise section and see the skills they have listed, and whether or not you’ve endorsed them. Each skill has a + button to the right that is blue when you’ve endorsed them for that skill, and it says “Endorsed” under the skill name. Simply tap the + button for any skills you think one of your connections possesses.
Also, of a more practical nature, the update also brings one-click application capability to the mobile app. Now, when a LinkedIn user is browsing jobs and finds one that suits them, they can send an application using their LinkedIn profile using the Apply with LinkedIn. Before doing so, users are certainly encouraged to make sure that their LinkedIn profile is 100% complete. Be as thorough with your LinkedIn profile sections as you would be with your printed resumé.